Design Education : Building Agency for Artisans in India
September 18, 2025
Join WARP for our September Continuing Textile Traditions panel discussion, as Judy Frater, Prakash Siju and Shakil Khatri discuss traditional artisans in contemporary India. Frater lived and worked in Kutch, a desert region of Gujarat in western India for 30 years. Countering the industry-based commercialization of craft in India, she developed the first institute of design education for artisans. She directed and expanded the highly successful program over fifteen years, and recently published the story as Artisans by Design. Siju, a traditional weaver, and Khatri, a traditional batik artist are both graduates of the program. They will share their experiences of design education, the challenges they face in realizing the value of craft today, and their vision for the future of traditional artisans.
Panelists:
Ashoka Fellow Judy Frater lived 30 years with artisans of Kutch, where she founded Kala Raksha Trust and Museum and the first design school for artisans, currently Somaiya Kala Vidya. She has been awarded the Sir Misha Black Medal for Design Education, the Crafts Council of India Kamla award, the Designers of India Design Guru Award and more. Previously Associate Curator at The Textile Museum, author of Artisans by Design, Threads of Identity: Embroidery and Adornment of the Nomadic Rabaris, and The Art of the Dyer in Kutch she has written and lectured extensively on textiles and craft.
Prakash Naran Siju‘s family is one of a very few in Kutch who have made flat weave carpets for several generations. Prakash learned carpet weaving from his father and dreamed of establishing his own studio and teaching his art to others. In 2008, he studied design at Kala Raksha Vidhyala and graduated with the award for Most Promising Artisan. Finding it difficult to train weavers to make carpets, the family decided to weave within their limits and maintain the essence of their craft. Today, Prakash and his brother, also a design graduate, create and market the unique carpets that Prakash had envisioned, and Prakash is a faculty member at Somaiya Kala Vidya, the current incarnation of the design course.
Shakil Ahmed Qasam Khatri’s family has been printing traditional batik in Mundra for five generations. He learned batik from his family when he was 17, and his drawing skill helped him prepare new block designs. Shakil felt that batik was little known and less appreciated. Understanding the importance of design, he took the KRV design course, and graduated with awards for Best Presentation and Best student. After graduating, he has managed to supervise the family business, and in addition to venture into new markets as an artist in his own right. During the 2020 pandemic, Shakil found an opportunity to realize a long-held dream to create batik with natural dyes. In lockdown, he launched Neel Batik, his own natural dye brand.
