Bamboo Weaving Workshop

All the basic needs of the tribal community of Veti Murbad – the village in which we have our office – were managed locally by using resources from the forests and through pre-industrialization and pre-globalization farming techniques. Whether it is Warli Art from rice flour, alcohol from various fruits, medicines from forest herbs, houses and tools from reeds and wood, clothes from natural and native forest fibers, or various bamboo artifacts – we can witness how the tribal community, through ingenious skills, enables the sustainable usage of biodiversity within that context. As inter-generational availability of all such resources had to be maintained, sustainable use also translated into sustainable conservation.

 However, with the increasing consumption of industrial products due to the propagation of their supposed benefits through media like radio and television, more and more such artifacts were either eliminated from daily life in the tribal society or replaced with industrial alternatives. We at Design Jatra feel that the revival of such skills is one of the ways the community realizes the importance of its resources. This is the key idea behind the Tokar initiative of Design Jatra.

Another step in this direction is the bamboo weaving workshop. We try and get bamboo artisans together with participants to learn about and explore various weaves of bamboo that have been practiced traditionally. Participants are made aware of the importance these weaves can have in everyday lives. At the end of the workshop, participants use these weaves to make their own artifacts that otherwise would have been made out of industrial material.

The idea is for the bamboo weavers of the village to regain their pride in their skills through these workshops. We also love helping the participants of the workshop use sustainable and more natural alternatives to produce day-to-day objects and artifacts. We also hope to explore and manifest newer and more modern avatars of the skills and artifacts that are imbibed in the tribal community.

As more such workshops happen, more village youth are encouraged to take this craft up as an option for earning their livelihood. With more people dependent on the resource for their livelihood, more chances of it being conserved. This is exactly what we have achieved in Tokar, wherein we attempt sustainable conservation of bamboo, and we hope that workshops such as these also follow the same path.