Through the year, we have craft exhibitions which do admittedly, cater to the tastes of the milling populace, some of them are up-market shows, some of them just plain kitchz with the usual collection of printed fabric, semi precious stone necklaces, and boxes of various shapes and sizes and other stuff.

But what sets a Crafts Council Exhibition apart is the rapport the NGO has with the craftspersons and the stamp of excellence that they put on to all their programmes. The Crafts Council of India (CCI) was established in 1964 to address the challenges faced by craftspersons and craft communities across post Independence India. A voluntary, non-profit, registered body, CCI has an effective networking with craftspersons across India through its ten regional Councils. Right from the word go, the Council worked to provide sustainable livelihood for the craft makers and linked it with design intervention to suit the demands of the contemporary market. Professional marketing support is offered for every exhibition as a viable means of developing traditional crafts through several programmes.

One such programme is the Crafts Bazaar an annual fair organized by CCI for the past ten years, to salute the efforts of the artisan community by providing a marketing base to showcase their products developed through the years. Crafts Bazaar 2008 like the previous Crafts Bazaars is wholly an expression of the craftsperson, and an exercise to help him to interact and sell directly to the customer and providing a hands-on exercise to learn about sales and marketing. Whatever the craftspersons sells is his or hers alone, and CCI does not take a commission on sales nor does the organization extract payment for stalls.

A joint programme with the Office of the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, this year the Crafts Bazaar will be held at the Valluvar Kottam, Kodambakkam High Road, for ten days from 19th to 28th September 2008. The exhibition commences with an inauguration at 4.00 p.m. on 19th. Timings are from 10 a.m. to 7.00 p.m.every day. 150 artisans will be participating in this mega Bazaar. The bazaar during this festive season beings to you a never before range of jewellery, in a variety of mediums, like semi-precious stone, silver, thread, glass beads, coconut shell, lac bangles, jute, pearls, wood and terracotta. Browse through the stalls and you will find embroidery as in Kantha Sujni, chikan work and Phulkari used ingeniously on hand.crafted fabric.This apart the bazaar displays lacquerware, bronzes, dhurries, bamboo and cane products, jute articles, kauna crafts, black pottery, woven tribal textiles from Korapad, leather puppets, paintings, bhoota articles, handmade paper products, kalchutties, horn craft cutlery, dhokra, mats, ceramics, mojaris, terracotta, bell metal and metalware in a mind-boggling variety. Toys of various media are a highlight for the festive season. The textiles range covers handloom saris like Paithani, Kalamkari, Kancheepuram and Tangails from West Bengal. A range of stone and wooden products will also be on sale.

With roughly 150 stalls vying to sell their goods, it is recommended that you make at least three visits to pick up the best from the wide range of craft.

Every item you buy goes to the upliftment of the craftsperson so come over and splurge this festive season of Dussehra and Diwali.

A week-long exhibition scheduled for February 2009 will showcase exceptional quality work of 15-20 chosen master craftspersons from different parts of India.

As the next step toward showcasing quality products Crafts Council of India has opened a third Kamala outlet in Kolkatta at the ICCR Centre, Rabindranath Tagore Centre, Ho Chi Min Road, Kolkatta on January 5th, 2009.

The 7th convention of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, organised by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Government of Tamil Nadu was held at the Chennai Trade Centre from January 7th to 9th, 2009.

Crafts Council of India organised the crafts event during the Chennai Sangamam Festival from January 11th to 15th, 2009 at the Lady Wellington College Of Education, Kamarajan Salai, Triplicane, Chennai 600005. Various craftspeople from Tamil Nadu had been invited to present their products for the sale.

Crafts Council of India proposes to work with the crafts of the North Eastern region and as a preliminary step has organised an Uttar Purva Utsav – North East Festival from January 27th to February 9th, 2009 in New Delhi.

The programmes planned for the festival include :

• a bazaar of crafts of the North East region at the Dilli Haat, Sri Aurobindo Marg, Opp. INA Market, New Delhi, India 110023
• An exhibition of museum quality products in collaboration with and at the Crafts Museum, Gate No 2, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, 110001. This exhibition starts on January 31 and is on till end of February.
• A seminar on February 2nd, 3rd and 4th is being conducted to discuss the problems faced by the craftsmen of the North East.
• Cultural events including film shows about the North East will be held during weekends. For specific details, contact - 011- 65020896, 26491571

CCI is holding an exhibition and sale of craft products with a focus on natural dyes at the Abhirami Chidambaran Community Hall at Kotturpuram Chennai from February 15th to 21st 2009.

An Exhibition and Sale of masterpieces of high quality crafts and handlooms at Appa Rao Gallery from February 25th to March 3rd, 2009.

There will be an exhibition and sales of textiles and jewellery at the hotel Chola Sheraton on March 13th & 14th, 2009 at Chennai.

The Santa Fe International Folk Art Market is the largest international Folk art market in the world and its success lead to Santa Fe’s designation as a UNESCO city of folk art. The Market hosts an annual festive, two day event on Museum Hill in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. The Crafts Council of India is participating in this event with a stall of select UNESCO awarded products over the years.

The Crafts Bazaar is an annual fair organized by CCI , to salute the efforts of the artisan community by providing a marketing base to showcase their products developed through the years. It is wholly an expression of the craftsperson, and an exercise to help her/him to interact and sell directly to the customer and providing a hands-on exercise to learn about sales and marketing. This year the Crafts Bazaar will be held at the Valluvar Kottam, Kodambakkam High Road, for ten days from 19th to 28th September 2009