Srakti
Duration
3 Weeks
Jawaja is the leather craft practised by the Raigar community from the Jawaja tehsil in Ajmer District of Rajasthan State, India. The artisans of Jawaja bring their local skills and economic progress to designing and making products that will stand the test of time. Jawaja leather products were and are all entirely hand-made from leather that is also painstakingly treated and cured manually.
The aim of this course was to work with the Jawaja craft artisans, learn and understand the nuances of their craft and develop new designs for home accessory products to expand their existing range.
Three artisans from the Jawaja craft community were invited to demonstrate the step-by-step process of preparing the leather and making articles using the leather. These artisans were present for the entire duration and taught the students the nuances of the craft and guided us wherever necessary. After seeing the demonstration of the craft and understanding its basics, we were all given 1 square foot of leather and were asked to try our hand at making a product with the Jawaja craft technique, using only the given piece of leather. The use of any additional hardware and fittings was prohibited for this exercise.
I created a sunglass/ multi-utility pouch for this exercise.
The current range of Jawaja Craft Products consists mainly of bags and purses. Our scope was to ideate and design personal or space accessories/ products to help diversify the current range of products in an attempt to reach a wider clientele and help the craft sustain.
The project began with creation of a moodboard which highlighted the attributes of the craft and the targeted clientele for the craft products.
Preserve the Past, Honour the Present, Shape the Future.
Thought Leaders
Warm Minimalism
Organic Modernism
Raw Sophistication
Understated Luxury
Keywords were identified based on the existing language and aesthetics of the Jawaja products.
Clean
Geometric
Symmetrical
Minimal Detail
Material Centric
The product category chosen by me was table top organisation products. The products explored were open boxes, boxes with lids and trays. In order to minimise the material wastage due to off-cuts, inspiration was taken from the origami technique for exploring various forms for the boxes and trays.
Two square nesting boxes with a lid and a triangular tray were chosen as the final forms to be made in leather.
The designs chosen are made from a single piece of leather that folds into a box. The square boxes were made by folding the edges of a square piece of paper & then turning in the corners, giving it strength and structure. Further exploration of the technique lead to the creation of a triangular tray. The square boxes when closed form a diamond pattern at the corners inspired by the patent Jawaja diamond stitch.
The boxes and tray have a simple construction in which the edges are folded at right angles to create the sides and the corners are folded in overlapping the two adjacent edges, holding the shape, providing strength and rigidity. There are no cuts in the boxes and use minimal stitching, thus making it simple for construction.
The boxes are carefully hand sown using flat leather chord to create the statement Jawaja diamond stitch.
The stitch on the corners holds the box/ tray while also provides embellishment to the boxes. The name Srakti, meaning corner in Sanskrit was inspired by this very corner detail which is the focal point of the products.
Product Dimensions
SQUARE BOX WITH LID (Black)
Length of sides (box): 6 inches
Box Height: 3 inches
Lid Height: 1 inch
Length of side (lid) : 6.2 inch
SQUARE BOX WITH LID (Brown)
Length of sides (box): 3.5inches
Box Height: 2 inches
Lid Height: 0.75 inch
Length of side (lid) : 3.7 inch
TRIANGLE TRAY (Black)
Length of sides: 5 inches
Height: 2.5 inches
Photography
Adyasha Rath
Recognitions
Jawaja Craft Exhibition | Oct 2017
The Srakti leather nesting boxes were chosen to be a part of the Jawaja collection available for sale at NIDUS the Design Store at National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad