Spoilt for choice: ‘Puppets make people smile’

Exhibit featuring over 80 stalls kicks off

LAHORE: The city’s Heritage Museum overflowed with people who flocked to the building on Saturday to view over 80 arts and craft stalls set up at an exhibition by the Daachi Foundation.

“I always thought it was my calling to establish such an organisation,” Daachi Foundation chairperson Ayesha Noorani said. She said the enormity of the project had initially prevented her from doing so. Noorani said she had established the organisation after hearing a lecture on television. “We then found committed people and that’s how it all came together,” she said. Noorani said the organisation invited craftsmen on rotation as she had collected their particulars after visiting them and coming across them at various events.

Zahra Ebrahim, who came all the way from Karachi to exhibit furniture among other items, said she felt her design aesthetic was extremely straight-lined and contemporary as she was an architect.“I feel that one cannot compete with the finish of machine-made manufacturing needed for modern furniture,” Ebrahim said.  She said this had made her incorporate something peculiar to Pakistan in her work. Ebrahim said she felt that a lot of the crafts like block printing were dying as artisans had been transitioning to screen or digital printing. “We have four lines of work presented here which include our Chaap, Khatt, Lakeerain and Mussaweri collections” she said.

Potter Arif Mehmood, who came from Gujrat, said he had been in the trade for four decades. He said he had been exhibiting his work with the foundation for three to four years.  “It is always great to work with the organisation, Mehmood said.

Saamia Hamid displayed hand-painted items like serving trays, trolleys and dustbins in classic English prints.  “I have been doing this for two years. I’m exhibiting at Daachi for the first time and the experience has been great,” she said. Hamid said people had been appreciating her work and she had made a few sales. “I created very few pieces as hand-painted items cannot be mass produced,” she said.

Sitting in a corner with a puppet in his hand, puppeteer Wasim Bakir said puppetry was his passion. Bakir said he had had a penchant for it since childhood. “I have even taken puppets to PTI chairman Imran Khan’s jalsas. Puppets make people smile,” he said.

Rawalpindi resident Fauzia displayed beautifully attired dolls at the exhibition. “I have come to Daachi for the fourth time. I make all the dolls myself.  A lot of effort goes into it.” she said. “I have been coming to the Daachi’s exhibitions since they commenced, Saima Sikandar,” a visitor said. She said the works displayed catered to people’s needs. “They make great gifts when one travels abroad. There is no better way of representing the nation than representing its arts and crafts,” Sikander said. The exhibition will conclude on November 9. 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 8^th, 2015.