THE CRAFT OF LEATHER PUPPETRY
Leather shadow puppetry of Andhra Pradesh locally known as Tholu Bommalata, (Tholu – leather, Bommalata – puppet dance) is one of the oldest form of performing arts. The leather puppets, because of their transparency and jewel like glow, have a very different and unique character to them.
In the dark of the night, loud beats of the drum and cries of the war horn fill the sweltering air, while glowing kings and demons fight across the flickering light.
MY ASSOCIATION WITH THE CRAFT
The craft of Leather Puppetry is slowly diminishing with just a few families in and around Dharmavaram and Nimmalakunta in Andhra Pradesh practicing the puppet shows. I came across this beautiful craft in 2013 while working on an artisan training programme and it was sheer love at first sight. The traditional puppets, some as old as 200 years old and passed on from generation to generation are magnificent and the puppet shows are awe striking. Even though I could hardly understand anything as the language was Telugu, I was sitting there and watching till the end for about 2 hours! The sound of music from the harmonium, tambourine and the dhols alongwith the chorus from the puppeteers filled the air with energy with the musical tales from mythology.
The next few days were all about learning and unlearning so many myths and facts about leather as a material and the tools and techniques of the craft.
At that point of time, I was not an entrepreneur with a brand on my mind. It was a sheer urge to explore the craft and a calling of a creative professional. It just felt right pursuing my passion for crafts with a purpose to create.
The Transition from Puppets to Bags and Lamps
Working with crafts is a journey, of self exploration, of people and culture and the nuances of the craft. I remember my first thought was to create shoes out of this leather but being hand treated leather it could not survive the wear and tear of a footwear. Then came the thought of bags and that took us together about six months time to come up with a final product that looked like something worth the effort in terms of its look and finish. The next was to build a system and set processes that worked seamlessly from artisans to creating a finished product that was the bag.
The lamps also that the artisans were making were a great work of art but lacked quality and dimension in terms of aesthetics, shapes and material. The metal frames that were being used, the way leather was mounted on it and the overall usage of patterns and colors. It was and it still is a great learning process for me to keep exploring new possibilities with just one single craft.
“To sustain something that has lost its relevance we need to add perspective, redefine and recreate into a product that gives a sense of history and a piece of future, making it truly timeless.”
If I have to cut the long story short I would say that today this craft and its people have the immense talent to translate the craft into so many lifestyle products of relevance and use in our everyday while retaining the values of the craft, be scalable and sustainable to employ the entire community. Everything that we have done at Studio Moya can be customised to the individual needs of the consumer and that is how I see making stories of the present times and taste using the craft with its people.
Meeting my Artisan partner
Whenever I visit a cluster, I am more interested in exploring and working with the not so exposed artisans. Visiting artisan D Chinnarammana’s family further down the village from Dharmavaram, in Nimmalakunta was a pure delight. I spent a few days understanding the craft closely. Chinnarammana is also a state awardee, very quiet fellow, hardly talks and would mostly nod his head to anything you say! It was pretty challenging considering the language barrier but nevertheless the creative language seemed to work. He could not understand or speak Hindi much.
His elder son Venkatesh , 21 then, knew a bit of Hindi and thats how we started working together. Venkatesh, who became my permanent co-creation partner, was then working with the highways and used to be on and off with the craft work. Over time I could convince him to leave that job and join me in Bangalore. With not much of a plan, started some developments on the artwork styles, refining them in terms of contemporary interpretations and mixing some forms from Madhubani and doodling which I personally loved and had worked on before.
To keep my costs low, and no office space I got him to stay at my place with my family in my house so that it was easier to work at a lesser cost. He came at 12k salary and all other expenses paid that time in 2014. Slowly he almost mastered Hindi and I could guess some bit of Telugu! His humble demands used to be of getting a smart phone, an internet package to watch movies in free time (no Jio times) and sometimes a Mc Donalds burger to binge on! Over time he caught up on using technology, wtsapp changed a lot of things. Over time things started taking shape in the form of collections and brands and whenever we had more work, his brother and father and a few more artisans would also join. Its almost impossible to pen the experiences and the journey so far but I must say it has all been very organic and like family. Today he alongwith his wife and 2 kids stay in Bangalore and create magic for the collections of bags and lamps with this craft.
Being tech savvy and exposed to modern means of communication enables him to be the face for his extended family in Nimmalakunta to communicate for any bulk orders or requirements coming from exhibitions or any other direct clients for their traditional work and co-ordinating puppet shows. He cannot speak English but understands a bit and is able to crack a few sentences also now!
To get an insight into the making and process of the Puppery product range, here is the Youtube channel link
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvDAruT4Pq0uIY7XSpSnMFw
rashmiesiingh 