Written by: Sahar Alamgir
Posted on: November 25, 2019 | 
| 中文
The Daachi Exhibition (photo credits to talkofthetown)
Cooler weather in November heralds the beginning of festival season in Lahore. Recently, Daachi Foundation held its biannual arts & crafts exhibition at the Model Town Community Centre. 150 exhibitors were selected through a competitive process for this exclusive three-day affair, that aims to connect rural craftsmen and small-scale businesses directly with consumers in a marketplace setting, eliminating middlemen who usually take a big chunk of any profits.
The brainchild of Ayesha Noorani, Daachi Foundation is a non-profit organization run by a group of conscientious architects and educationists, who desire to preserve indigenous craftsmanship and improve the conditions of Pakistan’s neglected artisan communities. For each of their Spring and Autumn exhibitions, Daachi selects and sponsors forty craftsmen from all over Pakistan, to come to Lahore and sell their wares, providing them with full board and lodging.
Moreover, there is a larger plan to set up a permanent artisan village called Daachi Nagar in Lahore. It will involve a rotating roster of artisans from all over the country, who can display and sell their crafts all year round.
The exhibition focuses on handmade products that highlight the diverse cultural heritage of Pakistan. They range from clothing, shoes, jewelry and bags, to furniture, pottery, artwork, and even hand-made cosmetics. The exhibition space was divided into two rooms—a larger hall that housed most of the apparel, jewelry and interior decor stalls, and a smaller room dedicated to art and calligraphy.
Ghulam Abbas had come all the way from Bhit Shah, Sindh to promote his brand Prints and Patterns. He is skilled in the craft of Ajrak, a block printing technique indigenous to Sindh that uses natural dyes to color cloth. He told me that beyond running his own business, he also leads workshops for art students in urban centers, in an attempt to preserve and share the traditional knowledge he has acquired from his ancestors and teachers.
Ghulam Abbas with His Ajrak Work (photo credits to the writer)
Enterprising in more than one way, Abbas has used platforms like Daachi to expand his reach and network with other institutions interested in showcasing his products and expertise. In turn, this has created economic opportunities for the rural artisans he trains and hires back home, to sell their works as well.
Fatima Naqvi and Her Work (photo credits to the writer)
Some of the more established vendors had displayed at Daachi before, and spend most of their year preparing especially for this show. Others were first timers, like Fatima Naqvi, a freshman architecture student from the National College of Arts (NCA), who was displaying her sketches for the first time.
Her detailed miniatures of famous landmarks belie the simplicity of her medium of choice, i.e. colour pencils, which she deftly uses to create an illusion of water colour paintings. Speaking about her experience, Naqvi mentioned the enthusiastic and positive response she had received at the exhibition, which is valuable for any young and emerging artists and crafters to keep doing what they do, especially in a society that often questions the value (and economic returns) of an artistic career.
Pottery from Mithi, Sindh (photo credits to the writer)
One could find the more typical traditional crafts that are now becoming increasingly recognizable and beloved in the bigger cities of Pakistan. These include blue Multani pottery, khairis (leather sandals) from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, kilims, and camel skin lamps. But Daachi also shone the spotlight to some less popular, but equally stunning crafts. I was smitten by a stall of painted earthenware from Mithi, Sindh, which was unlike any I had seen before. The patterns were painted directly onto the clay base without first camouflaging the earthy colour. The final products were left unglazed, creating a rustic yet sophisticated look.
Outside, there was a small food court that appeared to be carefully curated as well, as it offered an interesting mix of cuisines. “Nazia’s Kitchen” , a home-based food delivery service, had food available for sampling by the visitors. Its Sri Lankan menu had some delicious prawn curry and kati rolls. I tried their Chicken Kottu Roti, which is flatbread much like a Pakistani paratha, but cut up into small pieces and mixed with chicken and vegetables.
Nazia's Kitchen Stall (photo credits to Nazia's Kitchen on Instagram)
The longest line was outside the stall selling Punjabi pathoray channay (chickpeas and a special crispy flatbread) catering to more local taste buds. To top it all off, there was dessert from “Lahorelicious”, which uses organic milk from their own farm to create handcrafted premium ice cream. They came in mouth watering flavours, like Salted Caramel, Strawberry Cheesecake, and even Karak Chai for the more adventurous.
Daachi exemplifies a growing consciousness among urbanites to move back to our traditional ways of life: locally produced handcrafted goods that lead to a sustainable and creative lifestyle for the community. It is more than an opportunity for Lahore’s elite to experience and buy traditional crafts from across Pakistan under one roof.
A Daachi official explained the overarching philosophy of sustainability and conscious living that underlies all of Daachi’s efforts. This was most evident in the ban on plastic bags at the venue, and every visitor was given a complimentary cloth bag when they purchased their entry tickets. This ethos extended even to the food court. While enjoying my meal, I noticed a little sign on my table reminding people of the etiquettes of eating, encouraging them to slow down and to be mindful of those around them. A larger sign on the wall stated that all food vendors used organic, hormone-free ingredients, including free-range eggs, which would explain the slightly pricier menu.
Daachi's No Plastic Sign (credits to Daachi Foundation on Facebook)
While many fairgoers complained of the high prices of items in general, Daachi is unique in that it does not take any of the vendors’ profit. The intention behind the Foundation and the exhibition, is to uplift poor communities via providing them with a safe and sustainable space to conduct business on their terms.
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