Vadodara: The Gujarat government is holding a week-long National Craft Fair and Summit here from January 23 to showcase a plethora of handloom and handicraft products from the state as well as from across the country bringing artisans on a single platform to interact with buyers and enhance their business potential.
Gujarat will be hosting this Garvi Gurjari Fair & Summit at the Polo ground, till January 29, said Cottage Industries minister Saurabh Patel.
Handloom and handicrafts are unique in India and this fair is also one of its kind initiative by the state government to highlight these various Indian crafts. It will be a curtain raiser to connect the craft, the craftsmen and the buyers from across the country under one roof, he said.
"Gujarat has an array of crafts. Each part of the state has its own cultural ethos, which is manifested in the handicraft and handloom of that particular region. It includes embroidery, bead work, wood crafts, printed and woven clothes besides pottery and tribal art," Patel added.
He said over 600 craftsmen from all over India will display their skill in various arts and crafts at this Summit. About 400 craftsmen from Gujarat will set up their stalls at the pavilion, besides over 500 B2B meetings on the anvil.
There will be a one-day National Handloom & Handicraft Seminar on "Crafting The Future" on the opening day with keynote speakers and cover key subjects to facilitate knowledge transfer for overall improvement of the handloom and handicraft sector.
Focus areas include Craft mapping, Technology upgradation, Branding and Marketing, Craft Design Innovation and building crafts.
The Fair, which will be held at the 2.5 lakh square feet venue will include a two-day mega expo and a five-day retail expo for artisans, traders, sellers of Handloom and handicraft products to exclusively showcase their products at their respective booths/theme pavilions.
Also, there will be a craft village set up on 87,500 sq feet in which more than 32 variety of Gujarat crafts will be displayed.
While the tribal pavilion will display crafts and culture of the tribals, there will be "Vadodara Heritage Pavilion" exclusively for exhibiting products from the city.
Also, a Craft film Festival will be held showcasing entertaining films on Handicrafts and Visual Narrative Arts of various regions of India.
It is a unique endeavour aimed at generating enthusiasm for the glorious heritage of India and augment other awareness projects relating to traditional arts and crafts in India.
The exhibition event is expected to have State Pavilions where artists from Nagaland, Tripura, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand among other states will set up their stalls.
Craftworks ranging from stone painting, jute wall hanging, kite designing, rice-husk jewellery, coconut-carving to ancient iron craft along with traditional Gujarati handicraft works like Patola, Lacquer, Pithora paintings, wood carving, woollen shawls and Tangaliya work will be available at the fair.
There will be a replica of tribal village displaying lifestyle and craftworks of tribal people.
Institutes like NID, CEPT, NIFT and Institute of Interior Design will also set up their pavilions displaying the works of their students.
Stone work artists, weavers and kite designers too will exhibit live works with on-spot designing and sculpting work.
The Fair will also have a separate pavilion for banks participating in it and offering loans at lower rates to artists for the expansion of their business.
The event will also witness over 500 wholesale buyers from different states of India, said Patel.
