Infusing Culture in Craft
Talk With Tribal Design Forum: Khasi Culture & Design-Led Interventions
Synopsis of the talk
The project and research focus on new product development through collaboration between craftsman and designer to exercise a shared understanding of material, craft processes and a vision that is true to the culture as well as the craft involved. We follow the journey of developing individual chess pieces that lend themselves on a semantic level to invoke cultural characteristics and values, yet still identifiable for the larger purpose of playing the much-loved game of chess. Moreover, the unexpected parallels of chess with the Khasi identity – the queen as ruler of the board and the Woman as a central figure in the Khasi Matrilineal system or the knight having a counterpart in a Rooster, a sacred animal in Khasi belief systems and folklore, are all key pieces of discovery.
Client : Tribal Design Forum
