Geetanjali Krishna: Printing a future for crafts

Inevitably, when I meet friends from the craft sector, our conversations turn to the fact that all Indian handicrafts will slowly disappear unless they become a source of sustainable livelihood for their producers. If not, the craftman's next generation will move on to greener pastures - a rapidly growing phenomenon that has been noted and documented by researchers of Indian handicrafts, ranging from carpet weaving in Bhadohi to Patachitra painting in Odisha. In this time of doom and gloom in the Indian craft sector, I met a man who showed me how craft still has the power to transform a person's life, and that of the generations after him.

Mohammad Maqbool came to in Delhi in 1969, an illiterate migrant from Farrukhabad. From these humble origins, he's risen to become one of Delhi's busiest block printers today by successfully riding the crest of India's growing wave of textile export and retail. "When I came to Delhi, I was penniless. I spent my first night in the city on a pavement in Chandni Chowk, straight off the train from a home that already seemed too far away," he told me. "In the morning, I awoke to the glorious sight of Jama Masjid on one side, and the Red Fort on the other. I decided there and then, that I'd do whatever it took to make a life for myself in the city and never look back..."

Although his ancestral craft was printing, Maqbool's first job in Delhi was as a tailor. "I sewed dresses for an exporter and got Rs 100 a week. Sometimes, my employer tipped me an extra Rs 10 for hard work!" he said. Maqbool honed his tailoring skills for some time before moving on to work for a printer. He earned Rs 1 per hour, and ate all his meals in the printing workshop. "This was the time when the export of Indian handicraft was still in its nascent stages. In a couple of years, I established relationships with many people in this business. Eventually, one of them asked me to establish a printing factory for her," he narrated. By this time, Maqbool had managed to establish not only a reputation for himself as a block printer, but also relationships with influential people in the business.

"By the grace of Allah, within a decade of coming to the city with empty pockets, I was able to buy a small plot as well as a defunct block printing workshop," he narrates. Then, his life changed. Maqbool bagged an order for block and screen-printing fabric for Fabindia. "We began selling all the fabric we could print, and after my sons finished school, they joined the family business," he said.

Next, Maqbool began thinking of how the next generation could infuse their traditional craft with new life and their own ideas. "One of my biggest regrets in life is that I can't read or write. That is why I've encouraged all my children to study, and particularly my youngest daughter to get a degree in fashion designing. She's now getting an MBA degree but comes every day to the workshop to apply what she has learnt about fashion designing to our printing work," he said. Maqbool proudly showed me the array of clothing that she has designed using textiles printed in-house, in a showroom built on the ground floor of their home. His son's wives run the showroom, and Maqbool feels satisfied that he has engaged all of the second generation in the printing business.

"This craft has given me much more than I'd ever prayed for," he said, as I got up to leave. "That's why I feel certain that my children and grandchildren will keep it alive long after I'm gone!"