The National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Shillong on Thursday March 7th kick started its much-awaited Craft Bazar, seminal event as a curtain raiser to its popular annual festival Spectrum 2024.

Gracing the occasion as chief guest was Meghalaya’s latest Padmashree awardee, Kong Silby Passah who was recently conferred the prestigious award by President Draupadi Murmu in New Delhi.

Addressing a packed gathering that consisted of NIFT Director, Shankar Kumar Jha, faculty, students, parents and distinguished invitees, Kong Silby dwelt on the significance of handicrafts and textiles and its impact it has on everyone’s lives.

“In a world dominated by mass production and uniformity, handicraft represents a unique expression of human creativity and skill,” she said, adding, “Each piece tells the story of the artisan who crafted it, the culture that inspired it, and the traditions that have been passed down through the generations, whether it is a hand woven rug, a piece of artistic pottery, or a delicate piece of embroidery. Handicraft carries with it the sense of authenticity and a deep connection to our past.”

Kong Silby, as she is fondly known was awarded India’s fourth-highest civilian award for her immense contribution towards arts and literature, and showcasing her diverse talent, she enthralled the gathering with a song in Hindi that said ‘We are all Indians’.

NIFT Director, Shankar Kumar Jha in his address elaborated on the institute’s efforts to attain greater heights by ensuring the highest standards of imparting knowledge to its students. He spoke elaborately about the unique crafts of the northeast and expressed strong optimism on the enhancement of art and craft in modern times.

Set up in 1986, NIFT is a pioneer institute of fashion education in the country and has been the vanguard of providing professional human resources to the textile and apparel industry. It was made a statutory institute in 2006 by an Act of the Indian Parliament with the President of India as ‘Visitor’ and has full-fledged 18 campuses across the country, Shillong being one of them.

Over the years NIFT has also been working as a knowledge service provider to the Union and State governments in the area of design development and positioning of handlooms and handicrafts.

The Craft Bazaar is a seminal event of NIFT to highlight and promote the various crafts of the country. The primary aim of this event is to bring the weavers, craftsmen, craftswomen, and consumers to a common space and thereby create a link between the weaver and the market.

Besides, this event is a platform to understand and popularize the Weaving, Textiles and Crafts tradition of the country with a scientific and academic approach. The region of North East India offers many of unique crafting skills, which not only contributes to the local and nation’s economy, but also redefines democratic cultural ethos of this region.

Today, these traditional crafts are essential identification marks for the region and its varied facets of culture. Realising its significance and potentials, NIFT Shillong has been organising this event with an aim to promote the craft works of North East India, where the artisans showcase their unique craftworks and also explore the possible market opportunities for their products. This year over 20 artisans from across the northeast region have converged at the NIFT campus.

A part of the showcase will also represent the crafts and documentation work of students of NIFT that has come out through their collaborative engagement with Artisans at multiple clusters spread across North East India. The two-day event will consist specifically of highlighting the Craftwork from diverse cultures, students’ documentation and products, training programmes for Artisans and more importantly an interface with the consumers.