Press Release
50 Makers, more than 20,000 products from 15 states across India
- Meet artisans with their traditional to quirky products. Stunning copper and kansa wares, delicate Sanjhi paper craft, stylish bags featuring Madhubani art and much more
- The official festival store at the Bazaar offers products celebrating 10 years of the Festival
Jaipur, 14 January: A celebration of stories and storytellers, the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival is the perfect platform to celebrate the tales and narratives of craft, craftsmen and women, in its many-hued avatars – traditional and contemporary. Direct Create (DC), the online and offline platform that enables makers, designers and buyers to collaborate, co-create and sell handcrafted products, is hosting a vibrant crafts marketplace the Bazaar at ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival 2017.
For this year’s festival, DC has brought together a community of over 50 individual makers, designers and buyers to curate this marketplace. The unique crafts showcase honors the versatility and skill of traditional crafts, combining it with a new design language. Celebrating 10 years of the Festival, the Bazaar has a distinct identity. Working across mediums and materials, the makers and craftspeople bring a range that speaks of a creative synergy, power of craftsmanship and the skill of generations. the Bazaar at the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival 2017 will include an artisan pavilion at Cox & Kings Charbagh and a special Studio section featuring a larger showcase by select designers and manufacturers at the poolside. It will also host the official festival store featuring products that celebrate its decade long journey.
the Bazaar will showcase more than 20,000 exquisite and curated, handcrafted products made by a diverse group of makers coming from more across 15 states of India. Every product is handmade, with great detailing, and a sense of love and affection. All these inspiring makers are translating years of traditional wisdom and creativity into a product, and in today’s cluttered world where everyone is seeking something meaningful of their own, these products create a sense of belonging.
At the Bazaar, Direct Create will have MateenDijjo of ‘Blossoms of Heaven’ bring his masterpieces in the form ofIkat Pashmina stoles, while Swarang mixes Madhubani art with uber stylish bags and accessories. Saba and Amir from ‘Books Etc.’ celebrate everything about books with their range of stylish and fun accessories line. ‘Coppre’ has stunning copper and kansa wares that speak of both function, beauty and a unique reinterpretation of tradition. Master craftsman Rajesh Singh from Benares makes innovative toys in wood and lacquer. Siraj, an accomplished artist has customized special Khurja vases for Direct Create while ‘Heirloom Naga’, a design firm innovates existing Naga textiles using the help of traditional weavers. This is just a glimpse of the range of craftspeople and their crafts that await festival attendees.
DC is the brainchild of Sheela and Rajeev Lunkad who have between them decades of experience understanding this specialized language of craft, craft renewal and creating and engaging with sustainable ecosystems.
Said Rajeev Lunkad, Founder and CEO, Direct Create, “With the Direct Create Bazaar @ ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival we are hoping to create an amazing space connecting those who appreciate creative evolution of the arts, crafts or literature. We are excited to bring the results of the collaboration and co-creation of our artisans and designer community members to what we feel is one of best platforms to showcase contemporary handcrafting traditions of India.”
In India craft continues be a way of life for thousands of families, who have inherited their skills and trade from ancestors and continue to depend on handicrafts for their survival. However, with the rise of mass produced, commoditized goods, the livelihood and knowledge of the artisans is eroding. Direct Create is fostering a community of makers, connecting them to new ways of production and design and empowering them with the best tools available in the market across communication, co-creation, design, project management, e-commerce, finance, marketing, community and a global reach.
Sheela Lunkad, Co-Founder and COO, Direct Create added, “We are creating a unique community for makers and designers and empowering them with a powerful technology backbone that makes Direct Create a one of its kind hybrid platform for the Artisan Community. The idea that one can bridge centuries of knowledge and skill and a wide open global market, is inherently exciting and filled with endless possibilities.”
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NOTES TO MEDIA PERSONS
For media enquiries on Direct Create, please contact:
- Sukanya Ghosh: sukanya@directcreate.com; +919845033297
- ImtiazAlam: imtiaz@zimisha.com; +919810227818
Information on Registration for the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival can be found here:
http://jaipurliteraturefestival.org/registration/
For media enquiries on the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival, please contact Edelman India:
Nitisha.Prabhakar@edelman.com / Amrita.Sarna@edelman.com
For Jaipur media coordination on the Jaipur Literature Festival, please contact Spark PR:
Jagdeep Singh (M: 09829065787) (Email id: info@sparkpr.in
Kamal Kant (M: 09571836810) (Email id: info@sparkpr.in)
About Direct Create
Direct Create, with its online and offline presence, explores the human chemistry between individual makers, designers and buyers, touching upon environmental, cultural and social benchmarks: to appreciate the skill and craft, to understand the new directions and to create a sustainable and technology driven marketplace.
Website: www.directcreate.com
Android App: Google Playstore: DirectCreate
Social: @DirectCreate– Facebook: Instagram: Twitter
Dropbox link to DC Imagebank
About the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival 2017
Described as the ‘greatest literary show on Earth’, the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival is the world’s largest free event of its kind.
The past decade has seen the Festival host 1300 speakers and welcome nearly 1.2 million book lovers.
Celebrating writers from across the globe, past speakers have ranged from Nobel Laureates and Man Booker Prize winners to debut writers including Amish Tripathi, ChimamandaNgoziAdichie, Eleanor Catton, HanifKureishi, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Ian McEwan, J.M. Coetzee, Mohammed Hanif, Oprah Winfrey, OrhanPamuk, Pico Iyer, Salman Rushdie, Stephen Fry, Thomas Piketty, Vikram Seth and Wole Soyinka along with renowned Indian language writers such as Girish Karnad, Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, M.T. Vasudevan Nair, Uday Prakash as well as the late Mahasweta Devi and U.R. Ananthamurthy.
Writers and Festival Directors NamitaGokhale and William Dalrymple invite speakers to take part in the five-day programme set against the backdrop of Rajasthan’s stunning cultural heritage and the Diggi Palace in the state capital Jaipur.
Equity and democracy run through the Festival’s veins, placing some of the world’s greatest minds, humanitarians, historians, politicians, business leaders, sports people and entertainers from all walks of life together on stage. This free and egalitarian access to these renowned thinkers and writers is a powerful statement in a country where access to such individuals remains the privilege of a few.
The ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival provides a potentially life-changing opportunity for audiences from Rajasthan, across India and the world to learn from and exchange ideas with contemporary literary stalwarts.
The ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival is a flagship event of Teamwork Arts, which produces over 25 highly acclaimed performing arts, visual arts and literary festivals across more than 40 cities globally, and is produced by Sanjoy K. Roy.
In 2014, ZEE JLF spread its wings beyond the borders of India with an annual event in May in London. In 2015, it headed across the pond to Boulder, Colorado where it hosts a similar event every September.
Website: www.jaipurliteraturefestival.org
About Teamwork Arts
For over 25 years, Teamwork Arts has taken India to the world and brought the world to India.
In countries such as Australia, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Israel, Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, UK and USA, Teamwork produces over 25 highly acclaimed performing arts, visual arts and literary festivals across more than 40 cities.
Teamwork Arts produces one of the world’s largest free literary gatherings, the annual ZEEJaipur Literature Festival, theIshara International Puppet Festival in New Delhi, the annual Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) and Festival, international festivals Shared History in South Africa, Eye on India in the United States of America, India by the Bay in Hong Kong, Confluence- Festival of India in Australia, and many more.
Website: www.teamworkarts.com