Rural splendour at its best

Rural toys and dolls to adorn your house, miniature and Madhubani paintings to beautify walls, bags made out of banana fibre — all this and more are on display at Kuteera, the exhibition and sale of handcrafted products and home accessories, organised by the Crafts Council of Karnataka (CCK) at Chitrakala Parishath. The exhibition will be on till March 22, from 10 am to 7.30 pm.

The Council’s publication called ‘Wood Craft of Karnataka’ by Indu Parthsarathy was also launched during the inauguration. Over 30 craftsmen are participating in the exhibition which showcases the talents of rural craftsmen from across the country. One will surely go ga-ga over the products made of banana fibre, wood, hand-made paper, bamboo, white metal and bronze.

Kuteera also features items made in Karnataka such as Bidri ware, which are metal handicrafts made in Bidar,  banjara embroidery items, Kinhal toys and dolls, white metal products, chittara paintings, bronze statues, lacquer ware, hand-made products and coconut wood products.

Miniature paintings, embroidered bed-spreads and carpets from Rajasthan, leather puppets and durries from Andhra Pradesh, Sikki grass baskets from Uttar Pradesh are also on display. In short, one will be able to find rural India under one roof.

Soon after the inauguration, people started pouring in. Young girls seemed delighted to visit the exhibition as they were provided an insight into the skill and craftsmanship involved in the creation. Sowmya Vijaykumar, a visitor said, “The exhibition has some really nice rural collections. As we stay in a City, we hardly find products like wooden and Kinhal toys. These rural artists are taking a lot of effort to make these things and I think exhibitions like these should be encouraged so that these artists are able to display their talent.”

Another visitor, Aarthi K said, “I like collecting bags and wooden toys and the exhibition has these. I’m buying them all!” Home accessories, including ceramic and brass hanging lamps, tribal iron and metal crafts, vegetable-dyed lacquer ware, products fashioned from natural fibre, handmade paper and kalamkari painted cloth are on display. So, for the next few days, one can get a feel of rural India at Kuteera.