Soumya Ranjan called me one day, insisting that the next time I visited Astaranga for our mangroves project, I take a small detour to Manduki village. “They make beautiful handwoven baskets from sea grass,” he said. Sophie, our partner in…
Soumya Ranjan called me one day, insisting that the next time I visited Astaranga for our mangroves project, I take a small detour to Manduki village. “They make beautiful handwoven baskets from sea grass,” he said. Sophie, our partner in…
In the pursuit of authentic artisan stories, certain moments stand out as truly exceptional. Such was the case when we had the privilege of meeting a 93-year-old weaver, whose dedication sees her rising at 4 a.m. daily to practice her…
Bishnuprasad was born and raised in Rupadaipur, a village with its own quiet pride and deep roots in Odisha’s history. Rupadaipur is the place where Sri Gopabandhu Das began his early education, and his maternal aunt lived here as well.…
At first, they watched us with wary eyes. Then, one woman smiled faintly and brought out strands of bright glass beads—red, yellow, blue, and white. They shimmered in her hands like tiny pieces of a rainbow. Another showed us a…
We often search for magic in grand tales and distant lands, but sometimes it resides quietly within our world, in the hands of artists. Sri Mukanda Rana, who is fondly called ‘Wizard of Clay’, doesn’t use words for his incantations,…
Chitrarekha Debota and Suryakanti Singh carry the traditional art of weaving in their fingertips and in their hearts. Belonging to Muktanagar, a quiet hamlet in Cuttack, life here moves to the rhythm of tradition. Here, more than 700 families have…
Tucked away on the fringes of Bhubaneswar, in the quiet village of Nuagaon, a craft once central to Odisha’s artistic identity now teeters on the edge of extinction. For generations, this village was celebrated as the terracotta heart of Khurda…
Every time I transit through Bhubaneswar airport, I pause at a wall showcasing magnificent, larger-than-life papier-mâché mask, each one a masterpiece, crafted with such precision that I often wonder about the hands behind their creation. Recently, I had the privilege…
Under the golden haze at dawn, temple bells toll as if to wake up the world, a six-year-old boy stood transfixed as his sisters twirled like monsoon leaves in the courtyard, their anklets chiming as their father’s voice rose in…
On our road trip into the heart of Odisha to rediscover the rich heritage of handicrafts and textiles, we observed that many of the handicraft clusters had slowly disappeared. Our search for the last betel nut toy makers led us…
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