Crafts in Bazaars

Indian tradition has made no distinction between craft as art or as industry. Our crafts served both functional and aesthetic purposes. Pottery is as ancient as human civilisation and is perhaps, the first craft which came to be also a thing of beauty and artistic expression. Today, the earthen pot has little utilitarian value in the cities. The plastic containers, shaped often like the earthen pot, have come into use. There is the stainless steel filter that holds water, which runs from a tap and is not carried anymore to the house from a well. In the Bazaar, what are the products that can continue to be our ‘crafts’? Are these as refined as the work of our earlier craftsmen? Do bazaars generate their own genre of crafts?

Advertising the goods

One sees advertisements painted on walls in the markets, hoardings that hide heritage market buildings.

Advertising takes many forms and has begun to have considerable influence on contemporary society and commerce. But this was not always true. In the past, people lived in small, isolated communities where artisans and farmers bartered goods and services among themselves. "Distribution was limited to how far people could walk, and advertising to how loud they could shout"

Aesthetics in the Bazaar

Each vendor finds his own way of displaying the goods and makes a shelter within the given area with materials locally and easily available, with an aesthetic very much his own. This means that no shop has the same design because the parameters are not same; each is built within a different context. This applies to open bazaars where it is much easier to establish one´s own identity and define one´s own boundaries. It is an aesthetic that is native to the region, that cannot always be uprooted for use elsewhere.

There is ‘Art’ in the sounds, the forms, the colours, the spaces, the light, the textures, the materials that each vendor brings with him, some that he must part with before dusk and some that he must withold for the next day. There is a temporariness in this creation and every sunrise gives him a fresh palette to do as he chooses. He displays his wares artistically to attract people. Here, the art is functional; it attracts and the wares are sold. It is not the art that sells. Sometimes, it is a part of the selling concept, sometimes it is simply a part of the vendor’s being.

Planning for the Transition

Today, most towns and cities find it difficult to improve on existing markets because it is difficult to temporarily relocate the market elsewhere. Within the city, there is often no area available to insert a new market. The available option is usually to relocate them to the peripheral areas which are not so well connected by public transport or even if they are, customers find it tedious to travel large distances for their daily shopping. With markets, it is almost impossible to start work at any time and put up a board that says,

“ MARKET CLOSED FOR REPAIR “

This just won’t work. So, how does one solve this practical problem, which is often the reason for municipalities being unable to improve market zones. Strategies need to be worked out in collaboration with the petty traders so that small parts of the market can be redone at a time. This sequential planning can only be executed with the help of people’s involvement in the project.