Sculpting Laxman

Name of the Artisan: Laxman

About the Artist: Laxman, a sculptor by profession from Rajasthan lives by the roadside in Perungalathur with his family and works with his elder son Ramesh and earns a decent living and even manages to save around Rs.25000 per annum.

About the Craft: They make all types of idols, colorful as well plain. They use clay and Plaster of Paris to make these sculptures; it takes them about one day to make one sculpture. These sculptures are sold in the price range of Rs150 to Rs500 depending on the size of the idol.

They are nomadic craftsmen who keep changing their location every four to five years in search of new markets and most of their sculptures are sold during the festive season. Laxman learnt this art
from his father and intends to teach his other children also.

Group Members: Harsh, Haniel, Robert & Vimal 

Narasimman and an Ornamental Journey

Name of the Artisan: A.R. Narasimman

Address:  A.P.Astha Kala Handi Craft,
                 NO.31/16, Vaidhyanatha Muddi Street,
                 Sevenwells, Chennai-600001

About the Artist: A.R.Narasimman runs a handicraft shop named A.P. Astha Kala Handicraft. The craftsmanship has been continued for twenty years from his grandfather’s time. Now Narasimman has started his own shop and six to ten workers work under him.

About the Craft: He makes varieties of ornaments like earrings, bangles, chains, bracelets, anklets, and all sorts of accessories and also jewel boxes and pouches using the five metals, birth stones, Hyderabad pearls and one gram gold jewels. He says that he gets
order from all over India, preferably from all the southern States of India.

Group Members: Lhaden, Dechen, Narmada & Jeyarani

Guru and his craft

Name of the Artisan: Guru

Contact No: 9150150579

Address: No:2 Thatty maker lane

               Wall tax road

               Chennai-600079. 

About the Artist: Guru, a cane weaver has adopted this profession from his ancestors and has been doing it for forty years. Bamboo sticks are the main source of the art form with which he makes mats, curtains, posters & baskets exclusively.

About the Art: The quality of the articles depends on the handiwork. He makes contemporary art with the conventional art skills. He uses bamboo sticks and parachute ropes so that the quality would remain the same.



Group Members: Rokesh, Praveen, Thendral & Raja Sethuraman

Documenting the lives of Artisans

'Aakkam' is a tribute to the artist and his craft. As a part of our P. R initiative the final year students divided themselves into 12 teams of 4 members each and have made a couple of documentaries on the lives of a few artisans. In the next couple of posts we shall give you a briefing on the different artists, their craft and their lives that were documented by us. This is our small initiative towards helping out these craftsmen.

Aakkam 2012: A brief about the campaign

“Not mass production but production by masses” said Gandhi. 

Gandhi through his concept of the spinning wheel, made the issue of our dying handicrafts and handlooms public. With his death and the birth of industrialisation, his dreams fell silent. Our Public Relations Campaign strives to revive our handicrafts and give voice to our artisans.

‘AAKKAM’ salutes the hands that mould our earthenware, weave our threads, carve our toys, string together beads and grasp onto the clay that is quickly slipping through.

'AAKKAM’ is dedicated to give those hands a face.