Ahan: Reviving rural artistic traditions

Inspired by the ‘one village, one product programme’ the project aims to protect and promote local craft.

LAHORE:

One of the important features that the Pakistan Fashion Designers Council (PFDC) Sunsilk Fashion week highlighted as its main concern was to project and revive rural artistic traditions.

The fact that Pakistan is a treasure trove of craft is something we all know. But where these little gems of art are hiding, in which valley or village, how to pluck them out and incorporate them with modern life and its trends, is a Herculean task. “The levels to which urban Pakistan has reached is unfathomable by rural Pakistan,” says the designer Sahar Atif of Saai, who has been working extensively with rural women in an effort to revive traditional embroidery. “To bring these people to the forefront is not something individuals can do single-handedly,” asserts Atif who is grateful to the government organisation Aik Hunar Aik Nagar (Ahan) for providing her with the network to reach out to rural artisans.

While the PFDC has always stated its commitment towards the revival project, it was only at its third season, that one was able to physically assess the inroads that an establishment like Ahan has made. Their stall took centre stage at the exhibition area and carried remarkably creative handicrafts crafted from the usual ubiquitous materials that one often sees as heritage crafts: Cushions, throws, rugs, pottery — but all fashioned in a rather contemporary ‘cool’ way. Even with a hurried glance one could assess that truly serious work towards innovation is being done, and Pakistani handicrafts are no longer cobwebbed in the vestiges of time.

Inspired from the ‘one village, one product’ programme initiated in Thailand and Japan, Ahan began working along a similar paradigm. With five years since its inception, Ahan has been working exclusively in rural areas with an emphasis on technology enhancement, capacity building and product development. Thus far the organisation has managed to create hubs for cross stitch in Haripur in Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa; lacquer work/jundi in Silawali in Punjab; Kundan and sterling silver jewellery, and phulkari in Bahawalpur; cane work from Mianwali in Punjab; and pottery and ceramics in Fateh Jung.

The organisation’s first step towards innovation was to involve senior fashion designers and artists such as Rizwan Beyg, Deepak Perwani, Amir Adnan, Nilofer Shahid and Noor Jehan Bilgrami. Although one can visibly measure the designer’s creative input in the artisan’s crafts, there is always a deep seated mistrust of government organisations involved in such programmes and with fashion’s leading names involved, one cannot help but be skeptical of how much of business and finances actually manages to trickle down to the grass root levels. “Rizwan Beyg alone has generated nearly Rs5 million for the local communities that he has worked with,” said Naveed Shiekh, the regional manager Punjab for Ahan.

To date, Ahan has provided 20,000 metres of ajrak to Nishat Linen and Generation and 5000 metres to Gul Ahmed. “We began working with the big textile businesses and educated them that this can be a vital aspect of their corporate social responsibility initiatives,” spoke Maroof Afzal, the CEO of Ahan, identifying that the retail brand FnkAsia sources their colourful funky bangles from Dadu in Sindh. “We are a not-for-profit organisation and work with a 60 to 40 sharing ratio between the designer and the artisan,” explained Afzal. “Due to the frequency of work these artisans have become small factory owner’s in-turn employing 30 to 40 people and have reached a position whereby they negotiate their own rates of work with us. Usually, we provide all the necessary raw materials and they set their own labour charges,” said Afzal.

“Our vision for this year is to open our own stores across Pakistan starting from one in Lahore at the end of April at Xinhua Mall, then in Karachi, and also tie up with Trade Development Authority of Pakistan to lend us space in embassies all over the world to display our products,” said Afzal, who is now steering Ahan towards a more visibly commercial path. With the PFDC, Ahan has begun a process of profiling all the embroideries and embellishments from around Pakistan, which designers will pick and choose and accordingly furnish a whole collection using that particular craft.

While despite being a government organisation, Ahan has managed to take innovative steps to promote livelihood and protect dying and ageing crafts, it is also the responsibility of art and design schools such as the Pakistan Institute of Fashion Design, Asian Institute of Fashion Design, National College of Arts and Beaconhouse National University, to instill community-based learning programmes in their curriculum, as a sort of community service. Groups of students must work with clusters of artisans in rural areas, identified by Ahan, that require groups to train, educate and guide them. Revival of craft is a national project where everyone, but artists and designers in particular, are important stakeholders. This process will educate not only upcoming talent on the riches of the soil but empower rural craftsmen as well.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 6^th, 2011.