Introduction

India has a vast treasure of artistic expression practised for centuries in different social and cultural context, and in various geographical locations across the country. Traditional arts and crafts still continue to define the cultural practices, social processes and economic sustenance of the community, who struggle to uphold their living tradition in the midst of modern transformation. Despite historical changes, technological advances and globalization, Indian art and craft continue to entice and fascinate people around the world. However, there are many art and crafts forms which have been extinct due to lack of awareness and knowledge transfer. Today the artisans are struggling for survival, when many have moved away from their traditional occupation and some cling desperately without any indemnity of a consistent livelihood. Preservation of India’s cultural diversity and strengthening the economic vitality of the artisan’s community are important in the present scenario of modernization, economy and desire to increase the production, which is leaving very little space for many arts and crafts forms to survive.



The Design and Innovation Centre is envisaged to function as a centre of learning and innovation for contributing towards promotion and enrichment of traditional arts and crafts in the South Eastern parts of India. School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada (SPAV) is located in the region known for its rich traditional design, such as Kondapalli and Ettikopakka for toys, Pedana and Mangalagri for textiles, Sri Kalahasthi for its wooden carvings and Dharmavaram for its unique leather puppets. Each district of Andhra Pradesh is unique in terms of Design culture and comes out with typical design for sarees such as Bhimavaram, In addition, SPAV has identified the unique heritage, art and handicrafts of neighbouring states of Karnataka, Odisha, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. SPAV intends to lead this traditional art to the next level without changing its identity, and create a knowledge base and platform for artisans and students.
There is another viewpoint that triggered the rationale of establishing a ‘Design and Innovation Centre’ is the significant transformation in design vocabulary, brought about by accelerating technology and emphasis on interdisciplinary demand of a new age for both learning and practice. Digital experience in designing and human/ computer interaction have modified the language and approach to design. There is a need for education that is grounded in tradition, while directed at the future. The Design and Innovation centre aspires to integrate education, industry and tradition by engaging with artisans, exploring crafts transformation through technological and design intervention and promoting livelihood sustenance through marketing, while preserving the cultural identity. Special targeting will be done for women crafts persons, and underprivileged groups.

OBJECTIVES To explore, enhance and sustain the traditional arts, architecture, crafts and culture of the Southern and Eastern region of India. To develop design resource unit, that will extend services to industry and use emergent technologies to meet the market demands by providing hands-on experience on innovative methods and use of alternative material and techniques. To create an incubation cell that would equip artisans, amateur designers, young craftsmen and our students with essential knowledge and skill. To promote holistic development of the artisan community through knowledge enhancement, exposure, employment generation and creation of avenues to connect and disseminate widely. To establish state-of-art research facilities, and develop technical expertise and academic diversity for understanding different areas of design and create opportunity for higher education in design at the masters level.

Preservation, Innovation, Education and Artisan Community Collaboration

Design Cycle

Design Drivers

Design Geographies

Among the art and crafts forms such as wooden toys and carvings, Kalamkari art and leather Puppetry, Andhra Pradesh has unique designs of handloom sarees. Many districts of the state have their unique designs of handloom sarees, such as, Pochampalli sarees of Nalgonda district, Mangalgiri of Guntur, Upada of East Godavari, Venkatgiri of Tirupathi, Dharmavaram of Ananthapur and Kancheepuram of Chengalpattu have earned fame throughout the country and abroad. These art forms will be researched in the centre.
Tamil Nadu is the land of temple towns, classical music and dance, and art and craft possessing religious reflections. The state is known for its arts and crafts. Stone and bronze carving of Kanchipuram and Mahabalipuram, Thanjavur paintings, wood carving and gold claddings, and palm leaf artefacts of Ramanathapuram and Pullicat are rich treasure of intangible heritage found in Tamil Nadu. These design forms are considered to be important, and shall be taken up by the Design and Innovation Centre.

Design Research

In earlier years, designers were trained in form, function, materials, and aesthetics. Today, culture and emotion are central, plus knowledge of societal issues, techniques for finer application and understanding of the intricacies of complex, interdependent systems are important in the context of design education. There is now a great need to add more emphasis on the findings from the history, social sciences and engineering into the theory and practice of design. Design’s purview has widened from its historical focus on artifacts to its new, expanded role in developing services and experiences, and improving sustainability, health, and education.

The theoretical foundations of interaction design, user experience, and human-computer interaction provide solid, useful theories and principles, but with little understanding of the aesthetics and traditions that characterize good design. In order to expand, design needs better tools and methods, more theory, more analytical techniques, and more understanding of how art and science, technology and people, theory and practice can mingle effectively and productively is required.

The proposed Design and Innovation Centre is conceived as a research destination and center for advancement of skills with the application of modern scientific and computational teaching methods. The centre is likely to generate huge data related to arts and crafts. To store the data and to develop contemporary applications of the arts, high performance computing systems are required. The proposed centre will use design simulation software which requires high speed and good graphics cards for three-dimensional rendering and 3D printing.

The primary aim of this centre is knowledge transfer between students and artisans. Hence, outreach programs play an important role. The centre shall come up with an effective curriculum for offering Masters Degree in Design.

Action Plan

Conclusion