The Department of Cultural Affairs has launched a video project to document and project villages in the State known for their unique hand-crafted products.
The initial series of 14 videos, featuring one village from each district, are now ready to be launched.
According to Culture Secretary Rani George, the series is part of the department’s attempts to use Information and Communications Technology (ICT) interventions in the cultural arena.
Boost to industries
“We have a rich cultural and creative economy, which has not yet been documented properly. The aim of this series is to present a set of villages known for their handicrafts to the tourists, both foreign as well as domestic. This will promote these local industries too, which are facing many challenges. In the next step, we are looking at a portal for the marketing and sales of their products,” she says.
Traditional caps
From Kasaragod district, Thalankara village, known for producing the flat, round caps used by the Muslim community, is featured in the series. Around 400 families here are associated with the making of these traditional caps, which are exported to more than 18 countries.
The Kunhimangalam village in Kannur district is known for its bronze workers, who are adept at moulding metal into idols, lamps, and sculptures. From Wayanad, the village featured is Thrikkaipetta, known as the bamboo village, for the penchant of the people here for creating unique handicrafts using bamboo.
Aruvacode in Malappuram district, known for its pottery, is featured in the video series. The villagers produce over 500 different products, ranging from kitchen utensils, office stationary, interior decor accessories, and murals. Peruvemba in Palakkad district is known for the manufacturing of percussion instruments such as chenda, maddalam, edakka, and mridangam. Cherpu in Thrissur is featured for its wide array of wooden handicrafts.
Beypore dhows
From Kozhikode, it is Beypore, the home of dhows (Uru), which are still in demand all over the West Asia. Chendamangalam in Ernakulam is featured for its handloom products.
Pottery, coir
Kuttikayam in Idukki is known for its products crafted from bamboo. Vadayar in Kottayam is another village featured for its pottery artefacts. The choice from Pathanamthitta district is obvious – Aranmula, for its traditional mirror. From Alappuzha, the coir villages of Cherthala are featured.
The Thazhava village from Kollam is known for communities involved in the weaving of screw pine mats. From Thiruvananthapuram, it is the elephant miniatures made from wood, made in Aryanad, that are featured in the video.
Each of the videos is of two-to-three minutes’ duration. Separate versions with Malayalam and English narrations will be released through the keralaculture.org website and YouTube.