Preserving art from the past for a prosperous future.
From decorating traditional prayer rooms to now being on cushions, purses and more, Mamta is keeping the age-old Aipan art alive.
In our continued partnership with Etsy India, we’ve been on a journey of capturing stories from across India of creators who has been preserving, reinventing, or breathing new life into traditional art forms. One such almost lost art form is Aipan. A conventional painting style used mainly in the Kumaon region for dec; orating temples and prayer rooms. However, it has been largely forgotten by most people today.
Aipan was a unique technique of painting that involved using a brush dipped in a mixture of water and powdered charcoal to create an image on paper or cloth. The process was repeated several times until the desired effect was achieved. Now it’s practiced using a pencil and tracing paper. The idea is to draw the outline of the object, which is painted white, and the rest of the area is filled with brick red colour, also called Geru. The technique can be used on any surface: walls, furniture, fabric, wood — even your body!
In the 18th century, Aipan became popular among artists in Persia, India, Turkey, Egypt, Syria, and other countries. In India, Aipan is majorly practised in the Kumaon region of Uttrakhand. Aipan is also known as "Kumauni" or "Bhagwati". It is a ritual women perform on their wedding day to bless them with good health and long life. The bridegroom’s family performs this ceremony for the bride. This is done after the groom has been formally introduced to his bride-to-be.
Discovering small stories with a large impact
With Etsy’s #DiscoverIndiaWithEtsy video campaign featuring various handicrafts of India, we got to travel to Haldwani in Uttarakhand to meet Mamta Ji. Mamta Ji is one creator who has worked hard in her abode to keep an intrinsic art form from her state alive. Her work has provided employment opportunities to multiple women who otherwise would not have the same kind of economic power.
Adding modernity to tradition
Aipan started as a form of art that the local village women traditionally made to decorate places of worship. It is distinct and identifiable in its look but contained to a small part of India until Mamta Ji set up her Etsy store. With a push from her end and the reach that Etsy provides to creators all over the globe, Aipan is no longer just contained to Uttarakhand. It’s got a new lease on life; many new fans and folks who had moved away from this traditional art are now returning to it. In short, Aipan has become mainstream!
We were lucky enough to interview Mamta Ji about how she came across Aipan and what inspired her to start a community to keep the art alive and add it to daily use products. We hope you enjoy watching the short video based on our conversation.
Watch the story of Aipan here:
This video took our crew 3 days to shoot, including travel time. We worked with Mamta Ji, who goes from village to village, engaging with the community that practices this art form to tell her story.
This work showed us how something so rooted in tradition could find its path to grow in modernity. From being used only for places of worship, Aipan art is now used to decorate bags, cushion covers, stationery, and so much more.
Not just this, it is also helping the womenfolk of the community become more economically independent.
This video has since been published on various Etsy platforms and has brought much more awareness to the ‘AipanFromHimalayas’ Etsy store.
The creative video production team that worked on putting this video together includes:
Director: Ravneet Oberoi
Cinematographer: Bharat Kumar
Shot on: Canon Canon 1Dx Mark III with Canon L Series Lenses on Clog3
Sound Recordist: Chander Dev on Zoom H6 with a Sennheiser Boom Mic
Video Editor: Vinayak Das Gupta on Adobe Creative Cloud
Color Grading: Vianayak Das Gupta & Ravneet Oberoi using Lumetri on Premiere Pro
Music from artlist.io
Client: etsy.com for #DiscoverIndiaWithEtsy Video Campaign
Marketing Head: Sunanda Krishna
Campaign & Digital Lead: Tareeshi Sangal
Campaign Produced by: Ravneet Oberoi
We’re proud to have partnered with Etsy to tell the stories of some lost and rediscovered crafts across India. If you have a story that needs to be told and are looking for someone to capture your vision the right way, feel free to set up a call with us here.
