Identifying Building Artisans

The ecosystem for Vernacular architecture has become fragmented. It is important to analyse the existing artisan networks because it helps to identify expertise; to guage connectivity; to access existing knowledge assets and to understand the lost knowledge problem. The matching process through which artisans may be linked with projects depends crucially on the availability of information and how this information is shared. There is a need for a search mechanism and the markets that it will serve.

In a research paper 'Improving the Search Mechanisms for identifying Building Artisans to support the Vernacular type in India' I explain further a few of these issues. This paper was presented at the International Conference on Vernacular Settlements held at CEPT Ahmedabad in Feb 2008.

It is available in its full pdf version at : http://203.77.194.71:83/isvs-4-1/paper-dump/full-papers/36.pdf

Antique market in Mumbai

If you are looking for antique furniture in Mumbai, there is a large market for teakwood and rosewood furniture at Jogeshwari in north suburban Bombay. It is a market where a few shops selling old furniture started business forty years ago. Over the last decade, the antique market here at the Oshiwara bridge on S.V.Road has grown with more number of shops dealing in antique furniture.

Each of these shops is actually a linear space less than 15 feet wide and upto 80 feet long. There is no formal entrance or a shopfront. As you stand on the street, you see an unending passage. You enter and there are teakwood cabinets and rosewood chairs stacked up on one side. You inspect them as you walk along and go deeper into the shop. The linear dark space in the front opens up into an open-to-sky backyard that has natural sunlight streaming in and which is mostly the workshop area. Often, this is where the mending and the polishing of the furniture happens. This area has tools and implements that hang from its walls.

‘Mohd.Idris Khan & Sons’ is one of the older shops here. Idris Khan explains that he has 6-7 artisans at a time, working in his warehouse, where they mend antique pieces and also make new furniture based on old, traditional designs. He pays each of them Rs.350 per day. When you look around at the pieces in the shop that have been newly created, you know that Idris Khan has some very good craftsmen. They are from Nepal and West Bengal mostly.

The shop has an album of photographs of furniture that have been made in the past or from what clients have sent them. One can order from this collection or give them other designs and they can deliver what you need. Idris Khan’s son, Mohamed Ahmed Khan explains that they are very careful in their choice of wood. They use Old Burma teak and Rosewood as much as possible, which is sourced from Mustafa Bazaar in South Bombay. The superior quality rosewood comes from Cochin where old, traditional constructions are continually being demolished.

Ahmed Khan gives us further insights into their sourcing efforts. They have identified that the carrom boards made in India more than 40-50 years ago were made of rosewood that did not have knots. It was important to use a knotless rosewood frame so that the striker would bounce off well. Now, this is the rosewood section (almost 2ft x 2ft) that is used by Mohd.Idris Khan & Sons’ for sculpting out a curved arm for a chair. They had a sample on display and it was a beautifully executed piece of craftsmanship. Presently, they have 12 carrom boards in stock for such use. They presume that it was the same company that manufactured these carrom boards.

Ahmed Khan is the liason between the customer and the artisan. He understands the needs of the customer, adapts from the resources available and generates the design for the artisan. Ahmed Khan has no fear of their innovative ideas of sourcing and designing being replicated elsewhere. He affirms that it is the skill of the artisan that ultimately creates an exquisite piece and that is not easily replicable or easily found.

A planter’s chair, with long armrests, found in many traditional kerala houses is on sale for Rs.8000. An ornately carved four-poster bed is priced at Rs.1,00,000 (a hundred thousand). Ahmed Khan explains sadly that although he will find a buyer for this piece, it is most likely to be someone from outside India. He wishes that more people in India would be interested in the antique furniture. He says that it is only the Parsis and the Christians who still aspire to have antique furniture to decorate their homes. The Parsis are not only the people to sell furniture to, but are also the ones to buy good pieces from. Ahmed Khan believes that no one cares for his antique furniture as much as the Parsis do and that the most delicate pieces have been preserved well only in the Parsi homes in Bombay and elsewhere. In many Indian cities now, people seem to be interested in buying Italian or Malaysian furniture. These are made of particle board or synthetic boards and are neither functionally or aesthetically close to the traditional Indian pieces that are available here. Mohd.Idris Khan & Sons can be contacted at 022-26781339 or emailed at khansons786@yahoo.com

As I chat in Hindi with a taxi driver while travelling in Mumbai, he tells me that he is building a house for his family in Muzaffarpur in Bihar and plans to buy good solid wooden doors from the Jogeshwari antique market. I ask if his town continues to have indigenous architecture or buildings made with local materials. He says most traditional houses have been replaced by modern concrete constructions. Naseer also adds that their prophet has written that “Jab sab ghar pakke hoh jayenge, toh samajh lena ki pralay ah gaya hai”

I have written earlier about the Chor Bazaar in Mumbai. Here is the link to it : Bazaar Tour 2: Antiques Mumbai

And, you can read more about the 'canal bazaar in Kerala' or the 'flower market in Madurai' and other bazaars at my blog Indian Bazaars

Institute for Revival of Traditional Building Arts

Some years ago, I was documenting the Restoration efforts made by the West Zone Cultural Centre towards conserving the Bagore-ki-Haveli at Udaipur. Whilst doing the study, I came across a document that contained guidelines for setting up an ‘Institute for Revival of Traditional Building Arts’. Such an Institute had been initiated at Jaipur but it had closed down eventually. Maybe, elsewhere in India, there will be efforts to put up an Institute such as this one at another time. I reproduce here some key points from that document :

The work strategy for the institute will be :

- To document old traditional building art forms through a survey of buildings of historical and architectural importance
- To extensively photograph work done in such buildings. The cataloguing will be done building-wise and building art formwise.
- To locate master craftsmen of traditional building art forms in the various districts and to catalogue them including their addresses and other particulars
- To select old heritage precincts and buildings which need restoration, reconstruction, revival etc. and to make these available to the Institute for conducting training on actual working conditions
- Selection of artisans / trainees for receiving training and to lay down minimum educational or experience standards for a particular art form
- To prepare the curriculum indicating the period of training, theoretical and practical classes to be conducted and to identify faculty for imparting training
- To document the trainees skills and addresses, on completion of the training, so that this talent pool is available for being called upon whenever work is needed to be executed on a commercial basis and also to provide employment to them, wherever possible, through the efforts of the Institute
- To prepare films, videos, slides and literature for use as training material. This will need to be done separately for each building art form
- Brochures and technical literature to be prepared for dissemination of information to the prospective customers of such work
- To find avenues of work for the trained artisans in the public and private sector
- To evolve new patterns, new designs and improvements in old designs so as to make future work both time-effective and cost-effective
- To conduct research and development in traditional building materials
- To make traditional building art forms more economical and acceptable to the public

Athangudi tiles

I had an opportunity to visit the village of Attangudi, near Madurai where traditional artisans continue to make colourful floor tiles that are similar to the red oxide floor but with geometrical and floral motifs. The tiles looked beautiful. As you watch the tiles being made, and go back and forth from looking at the process to the finished product, you know that this is something you want to use, simply because the colours, the designs and the sheen look great.



The question is “Would this only work in a traditional house plan?” Many of us are keen on a contemporary house and you wonder if a beige vitrified tile floor would be more in tune with your non-ethnic tastes? Luckily for us, there are immense possibilities, if we do decide to go with the attangudi tile floor. Its possible to order tiles with just a single colour and no motifs; its possible to order floor tiles that are plain and skirting tiles that have a simple geometric design, with colours that complement each other. Besides, I do believe that its possible to include elements with traditional motifs in a contemporary setting. Its just about knowing how much of the traditional and how much of the modern.

Here is a YouTube film on the making of Athangudi tiles :

Source : www.youtube.com

Most of us in the cities would buy tiles for our house from the biggest brands in ceramic tiles such as Kajaria or Johnson tiles. Kajaria Ceramics which is a 700 crore company has a European collection. They import tiles from Italy and Spain for the Indian market. While we source from Europe, can we also source from a village in Tamil Nadu? Kajaria has a distribution network of about 600 dealers and about 6000 sub-dealers all over the country. What if the display division of the marketing department at Kajaria or Johnson focused on promoting Athangudi tiles as well?

If the curricula in architecture schools in India would encourage its students to document vernacular ways of building and traditional building materials and their processes, we could create a database that Kajaria could use. If the curricula in management schools would encourage its students to document the supply-chain systems in rural economies and analyse how these could be made more efficient, we could perhaps make it attractive for Kajaria to seek out and support the artisan of Athangudi while making great profits in their business.

In the meanwhile, if you want to khow how to visit the Athangudi village, you can contact Karthick Gopal at tourism.karaikudi@gmail.com. He is part of the DHAN foundation, an NGO that works in several villages of Tamil Nadu. Here are their contact details : DHAN Foundation, 18, Pillaiyar Koil Street, S.S. Colony, Madurai - 625 016, Tamil Nadu.
Tel: +91-452-2610794, 2610805 and the link to their website : www.dhan.org

In case you would just like to order the tiles, you can still contact DHAN since they know the artisans well and will be able to give you their contact details. Here is a link to their blog: Explore Chettinad

Ganapati Karkhanas

The men worked quietly on the plaster of paris idols. They let us come in, let us watch them at work. It was so unusual to be in a place with so many ganeshas. The streets around Shivaji Chowk in Pen, 45 min.from Panvel, in Maharashtra are lined with Karkhanas or workshops that create the Ganapati statues that are sent to Bombay and to towns all over Maharashtra. It is said that more than 70% of the statues that are sold in Bombay are made in Pen.




Each of these ganeshas are destined to have a life of their own, in street corners in Bombay and elsewhere that are preparing themselves to celebrate the arrival of the elephant god - the megastar of the ganesha festival.





These are not the most ideal conditions for the artisans to work in and yet the work goes on. Can tourism not bring in the funds that can also upgrade working environments within the ganapati karkhanas?

There was natural light falling on the quiet ganesha in waiting. The men who were skilled with their hands and had made these gorgeous idols from ordinary clay were men to be admired.

A ganesha tour could indeed be a beautiful experience for many of us. It could be a one-day trip that would begin with the ganesh darshan at the karkhanas, then, a walk down few of the streets in Pen, to know the still prevalent vernacular architecture of the konkan region, a lunch and then, some looking around in the local bazaar and interacting with the local people.

A vernacular house could be identified for lease to be managed by Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation or as a Private sector enterprise in the vicinity of Shivaji Chowk, similar to the heritage houses developed by Pondicherry tourism as boutiques, restaurants & coffee shops.

A traditional street that could be developed as part of the walking tour in Pen in addition to the visits to the Ganapati Kharkhanas.


Infrastructure such as roads, water supply and drainage systems may need upgradation if a floating tourist population is expected. The tourist facilities that could be provided here are:

• Restaurant with local cuisine
• Tea shop that is clean and with a ganesha storyline for the theme
• Rest rooms/Toilets
• ATM
• Ganapati Souvenir shop
• Ganesha Museum

There are an increasing number of craft tours and textile tours that allow us to explore the world of the artisans in India. "One day in the life of a silent Ganesha" could be one such fulfilling experience for the discerning tourist.


One of the karkhanas visited was the : Wadke Bandhu Kala Mandir, Kasar Ali, Pen - Raigad. ph: 02143- 254237 & 93707-17877

Bamboo building

In the villages of Assam, bamboo building is common even today. The houses are detailed out to combat the heavy monsoons. The floor of the house is a bamboo weave that allows the water of a flood to flow in, rather than keep it out. This is an important principle of sustainable development. During this time, the inhabitants of the houses get into the canoe that every house stores in the stilt area below the bamboo floor. When the flood waters recede, the assamese people occupy their house again. The belongings are protected by putting them up on the bamboo loft. The roof of the house is built with local grass and can last upto 10 years before it is replaced again.

The houses shown here are from Dhuba Ati Gaon, a village about 30 km from Kaziranga, the wild life santuary in Assam well-known for its one-horned rhinoceros. The people in this village originally belonged to the Miri tribe from Agartala and chose to settle near the Brahmaputra river. Today, they are called the Mising community.





The bamboo weave makes both walls and floors breathe allowing a cross-ventilation all over. There is natural light that comes in from this weave as well.








The woven bamboo loft allows the clay pots and pans to be held easily.







An earth plastering is often done over a close-knit bamboo wall for further protection.










There are several innovative details to learn from in the assamese house.



The stilted part of the house is for protection against a gentle flood. It is for the canoe that belongs to the house and for the children of the village. Here is a link to : Crafts in Bazaars

Indigenous skills

A Temple restoration in Tranquebar needs skills in brickwork of a high order; a Heritage conservation plan for Chettinad needs skills in lime work, wood work and much more; a revitalisation of the Buddhist sites in Orissa needs stone workmanship of excellent quality.

The master artisan is the one who can make meaningful contributions having spent years of apprenticeship to acquire these skills.

In contemporary India, this tacit knowledge of building skills needs to be codified or transformed into explicit knowledge in order for it to become a part of the formal architectural education system.

In a recent article in 'India Together' i discuss the importance of Codifying indigenous ways of building and the directions we can take in documenting skills and vernacular buildings.

Chettinad house

Chettinad is a region in Southern Tamil Nadu that is known for its mansions belonging to the Nattukotai Chettiars, a banking community who had businesses in South east Asia and brought in teak from Burma to build a housetype that came to be known as the Chettinad house.

At a recent seminar at Anna University (Chennai) alongwith Ecole de Chaillot (Paris) in collaboration with UNESCO and ArcHe-S, discussions were held on the conservation and management of the Chettinad heritage.

Mr.M.A.Siddique, who had been Collector of the Sivaganga district until recently pointed out that the main challenges at Chettinad are that the owners of these houses, the Nagarthars have deserted their homes and settled in Chennai or abroad, resulting in the lack of maintenance; the houses are under joint ownership and family disputes have led to further neglect; there is a flourishing antiquity market at Karaikudi which entices the local people to sell the burma teak elements from within the house, that gradually depletes what is left and most importantly, there is a need for the Chettiar community to come forward and make conservation of this architectural heritage possible.

While we focus our time and effort on conserving the buildings, we need to also conserve the processes that have made these buildings possible. We need to find out who are the ARTISANS who did the lime plaster work, who laid an oxide flooring or attangudi tile floor and who made the columns and brackets in wood. Are these skills available and in what measure? How do the artisans source work in a changing urban-oriented culture? Can we link these artisans to potential conservation and tourism-related projects, so that they have a continuous flow of work and a reason to encourage their children to carry forward the tradition. Here is a link to an 'Artisans Resource guide' that is being developed by a community of people concerned about heritage. It hopes to link architects and houseowners to traditional artisans. India still has a large number of such artisans in the many towns and villages all over the country.

In Chennai, the IT parks compete in architectural style with what the west has to offer. However, the people still aspire to have houses that belong to tradition. In Chennai, the architect is increasingly being asked "Can you build me a Chettinad house?" Is this fashion? Is this a trend? Why are people today keen on building a house in Chettinad style? and what do they mean? Do they want a Chettinad mansion with all its grandeur? Do they want a conventional, modern house with only Chettinad columns and the Attangudi tiles? And, what do architects think of when clients say "chettinad house"? Recreating a chettinad house in chennai. Is it possible? What does it need? The more people that begin to want houses that hold an indian identity, the greater will be the effort the architectural community will make towards developing a contemporary vernacular language.

In the historical Chettinad region - in Karaikudi and Kanadukathan, the streets lined with mansions are deserted, the houses in neglect. In metropolitan Chennai, people aspire to build a chettinad "vernacular" house on an urban landscape dotted with concrete multi-storeyed apartment buildings and in the Madurai region, amongst the local people, Art is a way of life.

Artisans Resource Guide

It is hoped that it is possible to generate the small but precise targeted push that will make the difference to rural building artisans in India, in the nature of the Tipping point phenomenon, which according to Malcolm Gladwell is “that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behaviour crosses a threshold, tips and spreads like wildfire”

There is currently a directory of master artisans for Goa. There is a need to build up a listing for as many states in India as feasible.

Who can use the resource guide?

Private developers, government tourism departments, individual house owners and architects are likely to use the guide. These are going to be the job providers, the people who will create work opportunities for the building artisans.

Related Publication

Hidden hands - Masterbuilders of Goa

by Heta Pandit. Published in 2003 by Heta Pandit & The Heritage Network

(Research conducted under the aegis of the Homi Bhabha Fellowships council)

the need for an artisans' directory

There is a growing demand for people skilled in traditional building technologies. The need for these indigenous skills is mainly in three areas : building of private “heritage” and “ecotourism” resorts; in the recent government program with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on ‘Endogenous’ or ‘Rural’ Tourism and in private “farmhouses” or independent “ethnic” houses that the elite urbanite has begun to build. Since this trend of building with traditional materials is now substantial, it is felt that this may be an appropriate time to add a catalyst to this development.

The reasons for supporting indigenous craftsmanship are – one, to strengthen livelihoods; two, to fill the increasing void in contemporary architecture in india, which is at present adopting a modern, western architecture and three, indigenous technologies use a sustainable approach to natural resources.

The Endogenous Tourism Program has been initiated in 36 craft-based villages/towns all over India. It is jointly supported by UNDP and the Govt. of India. These projects will showcase traditional arts, culture and heritage at rural and semi-urban locations. The state departments of tourism are being encouraged to provide a built-environment that uses a vernacular vocabulary. Therefore, not only will the employment opportunities increase in crafts and tourism-related activities, but also for people skilled in indigenous technologies.

People in the urban areas are buying small tracts of agricultural land on the outskirts of the city where it is permissible to build a “farmhouse” – a shelter to enable a person to carry out his farm activities. This however is being used by the urban dweller to build for himself a weekend retreat. This urbanite is being influenced by the heritage resort concept and farmhouses are mostly built using local materials and local building skills because the “pucca” structure or permanent house in concrete slab is not allowed.

When there is enough patronage and a market available for indigneous skills, the first step may be to connect the artisan to a project and the second step to train or contemporise his skill and to supplement it with other skills such as marketing and opportunity recognition. If a “pull force” can be generated instead of a “push force” it is anticipated that the artisan will re-skill and re-train himself according to the demand.

Jaisalmer and pre-cast construction

Jaisalmer as a city, as urban fabric, is in total harmony with its soil, its terrain and the lifestyle of its people. A city in yellow stone, a sculpture that emerges out of the landscape. But, Jaisalmer is a man-made sculpture of small well-designed parts. The parts that make the harmonious whole are the key to the urban fabric that one sees today in Rajasthan.

It is a system of carved elements - stone slabs, beams, columns - pieces put together, the putting together - a carefully pre-planned process. Stone carvers - the artists, the artisans working in groups to deliver the pieces as required, with every piece cut, carved, to make a railing, to turn it to make a junction or to break the monotony of a symmetrical façade.

Stone blocks cut and carved to make an arch, a doorway, a jharokha, brackets that support a circular jharokha, brackets that are radiating out from a point and therefore vary in their sizes, but must be carved to precision to take their place away from the courtyard of the carver's house, in the walls of the palace.

And today, centuries later, can Bombay, Calcutta or Delhi boast of a harmonious city fabric inspite of the progress made in construction technology? Should we not rethink about the city as a whole and apply the technology to the whole rather than to a part, a sole building? We make individual buildings with our technological inputs. Can we not energise our entire city system which may produce a building that reflects the common ideology? Can we use stone again? Can we carve again? We can, but perhaps at greater expense and therefore we may look for a less expensive alternative.

Can precast concrete elements take the place of stone slabs, beams, columns, brackets, railing? If we were to analyse the system of building in Jaisalmer and devise thereon a system for use today, we will perhaps have an answer to a better city fabric woven into the other townscapes and reflecting the current mind structure too.

Urban morphology in India has been studied before. Architects and planners know today how courtyards, streets and built-form come together to make Indian cities. Contemporary Indian architects are designing townships for industrial empires. Many of these reflect the Indian norms for City Planning, yet the built-form is a collection of units that are in concrete, and sometimes alien.

If we could merge the appropriate technology being researched and practised in some parts of India with these early canons of planning to generate urban patterns of relevance and create an aesthetic that one can relate to, we will again have cities and townships that we can be proud of.