The first thing you notice when you enter the Chanakya School of Craft in Mumbai are its pristine white walls, made even more conspicuous by the vivid Madhubani paintings that hang on them. This folk art form— which is over 100 years old but feels very contemporary—serves a greater purpose than just acting as flourishes of decor. It is also a reflection of the very values that the school seeks to propagate: cultural sustainability, craft preservation and the empowerment of artisans.
The rest of the school is just as striking. Following a minimal colour palette of mostly white and brown, it is both calming and enchanting in equal measure. In a delightful contrast to the rest of bustling, cramped Byculla that it is tucked away in, the premise is punctuated with airy, open spots as well as sizable enclosed spaces with large glass windows that allow streaks of daylight to pour in. There are four spacious rooms here, two of which are classrooms done up in all white. Inside, a number of students—all women—dexterously sew and stitch away. “We’ve trained over 780 female students so far,” my host, the founder of the school, Karishma Swali, tells me. “And we began with just about 40.”
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