Craft, Culture and Compassionate Commerce
Fashioning is making. And making contains within it many virtues, values and vertices that can shape and shelter much of commerce and the economy. The economy cannot only be about GDP and how much a nation earns; it must also be about how many people have been able to respectfully participate in it- both as producers and consumers. Economic growth that leaves in its wake- poverty, exploitation, disparities in wealth, sickness and lack of basic amenities, or violates human rights- is a tumorous growth, not a healthy, organic one. A model for a more inclusive and sustainable means of production already exists in India’s crafts. Our crafts were born in our villages, where they grew through an organic process of people within a community helping each other. If one tribe grew the fibre, another spun the yarn, another wove it, and yet another developed the dyeing and printing processes by which a plain textile transformed into a cultural document of a people- a testimony to their self-reliance, their relationship with their geography and their way of life. This was seen as the ‘wealth’, not of one person, but of the community. Craft was spirituality in practice. It recognized human and ecological interdependence. It did not have any ambitions of capturing market share, as it served the community. Those who consumed the products of the craft, were also its producers. The contribution of each was not only necessary, but also valuable- each worked with the tacit understanding that improving the quality for others, meant improving the quality of life for oneself.
Contrast this with present-day economic systems that organize human labour for earning profits for business owners and/or shareholders. The goal of profits creates a chain of exploitative practices, wasteful use of material and human resources, and serious environmental damage. The producer must be in service of the capitalist who woos the dispensable income of the consumer, often seducing him to buy what he does not need, nor value, nor contribute towards in any meaningful way. The argument is that sustained business with the consumer leads to the social good of generating employment. However, is it required that employment be offered as a charity? Is employment outside of the system of the capitalist- who invests in the means of production, and then seeks a profitable return from it- not possible? What does employment mean? If it means employing someone’s time, labour and skills, why is present-day employment dispensable and easily replaceable? The problem with large businesses that take control of human labour, skills and materials- do it not from a point of view of contributing towards a community, but from a place of seeking privilege and profit for themselves. If a skilled person is not ‘employed’ under an organization, it is misconstrued as being a disadvantage, and the ‘unemployed’ doomed for a life of difficulty and looming poverty. Thus, in wooing a ‘consumer’, all valuable resources are undervalued (and often exploited), to satisfy the (perceived) demands of the consumer. Businesses therefore, do not use the employment of their workforce for the community, but for money. The means becomes the end. This perverse view of employment and production has created conditions that have led to migration of workers from the villages to towns and cities, exploitation of easy labour and poverty, a loss of democratic character, political instability, a loss of art and craft, disease and poor mental health, an increase in disparities of wealth and a depletion of environmental resources leading to poverty and a frightening ecological imbalance.
While the world has awoken to the sheer wastefulness and callousness of the world of fashion businesses, with more than 70 % consumers now seeking greater accountability from brands that they buy from, important lessons to rethink this culture of unsustainability based on a flawed economic model, lie in our crafts. Our crafts are characterized by the following:
1. The use of materials and skills that are available mainly locally.
2. The development of skill towards fashioning these materials is organic and involves an organization of a skill hierarchy that rises up towards the ability to work with minute details and complex techniques. People are employed as per their skills and many are afforded the facility of working from home. This is especially advantageous to women that allows them the opportunity to be at home and also earn a livelihood.
3. Traditionally, the employment was self-created and served to fulfil the needs of the community first. The excess that was developed was used for trading with other communities. Industry grew around the development of material and human resources.
4. Sustained practices of the techniques led to the development of high skill and products of high value.
5. Simple techniques, motifs and patterns are explored for achieving higher levels of artistry.
Our rich crafts are the result of community participation and interactions, and not shareholder investments or corporatization. While our world has grown to be more complex than the milieu of this simple model and needs the mechanism of markets to not only grow, but also sustain, it can certainly review its assumptions about economic growth and prosperity. Does prosperity imply prosperity only for a few? Does growth mean more wealth within corporations, but poverty outside them? Does economics concern itself only with costs to corporations and price to consumers and goods produced and sold, or does it also concern itself with involvement and participation of people, and creating, identifying and rewarding value? It ultimately boils down to that- are we able to create value? How do we define value? Does commercial value necessarily entail the degradation of communities, skills, people and the environment? How do we guide innovations towards more inclusivity? Our crafts and culture can provide us with some valuable indications even as we march towards developing our markets and simultaneously evaluate the role of design and innovation in positively impacting society. There’s much to be accrued from a culture of making, and from supporting and sustaining crafts. It allows many people, with a range of skillsets, to participate in an economy without diminishing the value of their labour. Economics must be reclaimed by the people to usher in an age of greater creativity, more inclusivity, more collaboration, healthier and happier communities and more compassion.
