Odisha Crafts Museum
The museum celebrates the craftsmanship of our artisans by putting on display their breath-taking masterpieces.
The Requirement
The project proposal required me to select a certain section of the traditional arts and crafts presented here and create a unique folder that represents the same. Although this was an individual project, it required my team and I to venture to Odisha and gather research together.
Craft selected: Wood carving
Odisha is known for its exquisite creators in wood carving, of which some of the many known works include toys, deities, masks, cutlery. The wood carving on doors, panels and wall brackets as part of architecture were quite intriguing and spectacular.
The plan
Henceforth, after much research the following pointers were chosen to cover the areas of the folder:
1. The process of how a elaborate creation is made from a plain wooden block.
2. The types of wood and tools used.
3. Throughout the folder, I focused largely on the three major forms of wood carving: toys, deities and architecture.
laser cutting
To bring the look and feel as close to woodcarving, I decided to include laser cutting of known designs taken from toys, deities and architecture (in that order) onto the folder. Given right are the graphics for laser cutting.
The full folder (front and back)
The folder came to be quite interactive to the user. It appears to be delicate and compact. Its the perfect size to carry around in your pocket.
the team
Unfortunately for us, the hurricane Fani greeted us upon our arrival. The storm wiped out many of the artisans’ work and livelihood and the area was left devastated hence halting our research.
By the moon’s lucky rays, my team and I found peace and safety within the the comfort of each others humor and sanity.
From left:
Mandrita Bhattacharyya, Raksha Khandelwal, Me, Pragati Sharma, Kalpesh Devrukhar, Vimila Reddy, Manas Manohar
