When the young Nishi Srivastava relocated to Delhi in 2011 with a job at a tech research company, she was disheartened because she did not find any art and culture weekend activities here. Seven years on, she runs a platform called The Craftsutra to engage people in the arts and discover things about themselves. This weekend, the platform will organise a Macrame Plant Hanger workshop by Agrima and an artsy Sunday Brunch.

“You don’t need to have an art background to attend these workshops,” she says. About how The Craftsutra came into being, the 29-year-old says, “I had a hectic job and all the friends that I had in the city were my colleagues. I wanted a creative place to unwind, and meet like-minded people. I enrolled myself in an art course that had a curriculum and classroom lessons. But this wasn’t what I was looking for.” The absence of a more flexible opportunity led her to set up The Craftsutra in 2016.

“I planned a paper quilling workshop. I was the manager, the photographer and the organiser for it. I listed the workshop on event listing websites, and booked Sanskriti Kendra [as the venue]. Though mostly family and friends attended it, everyone was fascinated by the idea,” says the Allahabad-bred Srivastava. 
And a year ago, she quit her job as patent data researcher at Evalueserve, and took up managing Craftsutra full-time with a team of five and an artist network of over 80 across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata. All this time, her father was her biggest supporter. “It couldn’t have been possible without him,” she adds.  

A recent workshop of hers was attended by her school teacher. “She was visiting Delhi with her kids, and she enrolled for the workshop without knowing about who was organising it. When she turned up at the session, it was an emotional moment for me and a proud moment for her.”

At present, Srivastava is working to revive the traditional mud mirror art of Gujarat, Lippan. “I stayed in mud houses with the artists in Gujarat, documented their work and art, and also learned the art form. I want to bring the art form to the urban art scene.” Encouraging people to connect with their inner artist is The Craftsutra’s mantra. “The jobs here are so stressful and I believe everyone is creative but the talent remains hidden somewhere. At this creative outlet, they can make friends with people sharing common interests.”

Upcoming events
September 14   
Macrame Plant Hanger at Blue Tokai, Saidulajab, New Delhi; 11:00 am-2:00 pm
Doodling on Plate at Chaayos, Connaught Place; 3:00-6:00 pm
September 15  
Clay Relief Sculpting at Zorba The Buddha; 10:00am to 1:00pm
Decoupage on Tray at Zorba The Budhha; 2:00-5:00 pm
Artsy Brunch Takeover at Foxtrot, Cyberhub; 12:00-4:00 pm