Gamification of cultural knowledge through craft | Part 1

Ethnographic product innovation with the Terracotta Craft Community of Gundiyali, Kutch

Host: Design Innovation and Craft Resource Centre (DICRC), CEPT University

Project: Craft Colaborative Fellowship 2018 was an initiative towards meaningful collaborations between craftspeople and design fellows. The initiative was to expose craftspeople to new concepts, ideas and a new perspective to look at the craft practice, by involving fellows to be extensively involved in the community, understand the nuances of the craft, the material and the practice.

Role: Design Fellow | Ethnographer | Product innovator
(Directly collaborated with terracotta crafts community of Gundiyali, Kutch)

Skills: Cultural & Visual Ethnography (Open-ended conversations & Fieldwork) Product innovation, Storytelling & Communication Design, Curation

Team: Craft Community — Anwarbhai Kumbhar, Alimamdbhai Kumbhar, Shayeraben Kumbhar, Aishaben Kumbhar, Ruksanaben Kumbhar, Anwarbhai Luhar & Abdul Yakub Kumbhar

Fellowship constraint(s): The product(s) needed to be primarily made of terracotta

Year: 2018-present

- This project was exhibited at Ekatra, Kanoria Gallery of the Arts, Ahmedabad in 2019.

- A paper on the project, ‘Culturally inclined games: A way to trigger quest for understanding ethnic identities’ has been selected to be presented at the International Conference for designing for children, Play + Learn at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay to be held in January, 2021. Please find the paper here: Leena-Jain-Culturally-inclined-games-A-way-to-trigger-quest-for-understanding-ethnic-identities.pdf (designingforchildren.net)

Problem statement

How can we bridge the gap of alienation and a loss of cultural context in migrating generations?

• The answer lies in crafts, they are at the center of cultural dynamic, whether it is about the lifestyles, relationships and dependencies with a community, and further, social issues including economic welfare, gender roles, sociological, religious and regional practices.
• The material culture in craft practices evolves towards future relevance, and keeps narratives from the past alive. Postmodernism lies in the co-existence of the past, the present and the future.
• Education on history, and culture at the primary schooling is often limited to texts. It has been seen how in urban scenarios, children are often alienated from their roots, or cultural context.

Gamification through crafts brings together the tangible essence of the craft, gives an insight into a culture through the interaction, and further brings a new opportunity area for craft communities for positioning fresh outcomes in the contemporary market.

The Process

Process documentation: Craft CoLABorative fellowship

The ideas were to emerge from observations, and ethnographic research, insights from the field. Narratives of the community become sources of educative interaction.

An in-depth deep ethnographic study, living with the community for over three months, recurring, understanding the lifestyle, craft, family structure and the overall context was done.

Rich picture

Deep dive organic open-ended conversations and product development as a co-creative method was used to bring out oral narratives and stories. These narratives were mapped on a rich picture and a systems map to better understand the cluster, and it’s intricacies.

One emerging narrative was in ‘the idea of home’, which talks about Gundiyali as an identity for the people.

• There are many narratives of people returning to the cluster after having worked elsewhere and abroad. The idea of ‘Kutchch’ and the land — or ‘des’ was the immensely portrayed in the community.
• Taking the concept of home, in how the arrangements are, what are the nuances of the material used — forms across the house, traditional elements, earthenware, what is now left, and how it was earlier. Then there were narratives about the material, the sentiment behind association with ‘maati’. Nature is another point which is truly synchronized in the lifestyle, with sustainability being an organic part of life, instead of imposition.
• The points on history, body and community are also imperative points that shape the thinking process and comprehension of the various individuals, families, and the community.

Sukoon | The house of a Kutchchi Kumbhaar

The product became a tool for discovery of narratives and the documentation of it, the making process generated narratives that fed back into the development.

• The house of a Kutchi Kumbhar, bringing out the sentiment behind ‘home’, talking about the historical traditions, the culture and also the lifestyle which shows a great integration of the craft practice as a livelihood, and how the family life exists around it.
• There are cultural nuances and specific reasons behind everything that’s there in the house, whether it is the curved halved clay modules (or desi nariyas) for letting rainwater pass through smoothly, keep the house warm in cold days and vica versa with air passages, or the large earthenware pot, ‘kuthi’ to store grains for a longer period.
• The house with a living room and a bedroom, is equipped with various regional and cultural nuances, with the ‘Pachni’ (a raised platform on the wall against the door) where plates and utensils are arranged aesthetically, then ‘Madhuni’, along with ‘Khaats’, ‘Petis’ as the bed, storage cabinet, and earthenware pots used for various occasions like the ‘Ghadi’, which has a significant use in weddings.
• The workshop area is an open space with a roof overhead, where one could squat / sit and turn the wheel making artefacts, and keep them around to dry out. This space is full of products to be sold to customers or to distributors who come in. The organically emerging ‘aangan’ space where living and working meet, with ‘Khaats’ to sit around and socialize among neighbours, to play area for the kids, storage and to dry the artefacts, also to do the ornamentation part. This also worked as a display for trade.
• The roofs have a specific architectural style, as semi round modules that are thinner in the start, and wider at the ends, called ‘desi nariyas’ which fit into each other creating space for air ventilation and for rainwater to not enter the homes. These also kept the homes warm in winter and cooler in summer due to the properties of clay and the air current flow designed in the apt way.

Prototype Development

Prototype development revolved around a lot of ambiguity, since the playhouse needed to have some permanent parts to make the framework of the structure, and a few dynamic ones so there is interactivity and tangible outcomes of the activity. Starting with making small miniatures of different objects with the Kuthi (grain storage jar) and Kulhad (glass) as the references, there would be inputs from the entire neighbourhood around. After exploring a few materials including donkey poop wood, ply and micro-fiber board, they found the boards that are used for chullas, which are locally known as fiber boards, available in Gundiyali itself. They were pressed, dried clay boards with a mix. One can drill holes in these, and create a structure.

Outcome

A deeper layer of historical, cultural, traditional narratives were captured and documented in an interactive process to produce an interactive outcome.

This is a traditional form of the house — house or ‘ghar-ghar’ or in modern times, the ‘dollhouse’ to be essentially played by kids between ages of 8 years to 12 years, it is an interactive educational experience, with information about the community, the craft and earthenware.

It also gives them an insight into ancient form of buildings and a reasoning behind it. The roofs are separate and the second layer of clay modules is to be attached the players themselves.

Sukoon, product booklet

Possible market scope

• An interesting scope is with Non-resident Indians who find an association with the cultural nuances, and a way back to their roots, while residing far.
• The product outcome talks about a community, a culture, a new one for those who are curious. Culture enthusiasts from around the world are another potential market, whether it is the physical tourists who visit the cluster or the ones looking for interesting pieces, games, books, resources online or in museums.

Ekatra, 2019

If you’re interested in collaborating, or want to purchase the product of parts of it, please write to me at leenajain.work@gmail.com