Thatta Kedona

Culture is a Basic Need

One Product One Village
Friday, May 8, 2015

Dr. Norbert Pintsch

The village project of the NGO A.F.A. in TGD with its image brand of TOY VILLAGE represents an income-generation method for the village population, which is based upon the traditional culture of the area.

The main local buyers are diplomats, experts and managers of international companies as well as tourists and other travelers.

The products are being successfully marketed within the country and even have excellent reputation in foreign countries. There are customers in USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, Nuezeland, EU und the UAE as well as collectors in ethnological Museums in Stuttgart, Cologne, Hamburg, Leipzig and Berlin.

The village NGO has in the meantime integrated members from six other villages. Furthermore, it has sub-contractors in other parts of the country through six other NGO’s from Karachi, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Karimabad.

New products are being developed in order to integrate further women from other villages into the project.
It is very important to proceed in a particular way for such a project to be successful:

The products are not to be manufactured in large quantities so that the producers do not lose their traditional roots and move to the cities.
Quality control must be ensured with the help of trained staff.
The marketing must proceed hand in hand due to the specific way of production which again requires trained staff.

For developing new products in other villages (One Product – One Village) specially qualified staff is needed which is also ready to work together with the village population. Members of city culture may be more qualified but the preparedness to work in the village and to develop with the local residents is more important –this point is apparently the most difficult to overcome in order to achieve success.

Labels: Thatta Kedona, TTTC

posted by S A J Shirazi @ 8:30 AM, ,

Volunteers in TGD
Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Labels: Volunteers

posted by S A J Shirazi @ 12:00 AM, ,

Fine art of skin painting
Monday, May 4, 2015

Art seems to have been important to almost all human societies since before recorded history. Art expressions have been, and still are, used to record, to explain, to interpret, to predict, to gain awareness, and to express those things cultures find important,” wrote by Turner Rogers, an associate professor of art education at the University of South Alabama.

This assertion is truer in case of Pakistan where some of the medieval arts have originated, and have not only been preserved but are practiced till date. The history of Pakistani arts and crafts – Kashi work, painting of skin, woodworks and painting on wood items -- goes back to medieval period.

Among the various arts that are practiced in Pakistan, skin painting has attained a higher state of refinement and Pakistan is famous this art around the world. The use of foliage or branches and leaves of trees and superb richness of colours (mainly blue) in skin painting is an evidence of Persian influence. As Persian arts themselves have been under Chinese Mongol influence, therefore some historians are of the view that skin painting had originally come from Kashghar China. Over a period of centuries Pakistani work has matured and developed a unique and distinctive style of its own. The finest quality work is done on the camel skin in southern Punjab (Multan, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan) and several products are exported.

The tedious technique of shaping the camel skin crafts and decorating them with indegenously prepared lacquer colours is an age old tradition that has withstood the test of time. This is a part of our ancient cultural heritage and needs to be preserved. Not only that, there is always a room to bring into the art new innovations, endow it with fresh spirit and set the science as its guide. The range of possibilities in the field of ceramics is very vast. The whole world is there to appreciate the work.

How to preserve the craft for our next generations?

Labels: Skin Painting