RCB Presents The Anita Parikh Award for Women Empowerment To Karishma Swali & Monica Shah, Founders, Chanakya school of craft
KARISHMA SWALI
The House of Chanakya is a luxury design firm, and our core is design excellence in exclusive hand craftsmanship. Our journey to showcase the age-old heritage of hand embroidery began when our father, Mr. Vinod Shah, founded Chanakya almost four decades ago, in 1986. Our country holds the deepest, widest, and most skilled artisanal base for hand craftsmanship in the world, a skill that our country has harnessed over many centuries and is really nothing short of a national treasure.
OUR VISION AT CHANAKYA IS SIMPLY TO SHARE INDIA’S FINEST CRAFTSMANSHIP WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD WHILE MAINTAINING OUR CULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY AND LENDING TO THE PRESERVATION OF OUR PRECIOUS ARTISANAL LEGACY. We have been fortunate to collaborate and partner with some of the finest couture and design houses across Europe and the USA and to represent our country’s cultural and craft landscape globally.
Our recent collaborations with Dior highlight the virtuosity of Indian craft and its exclusive nature. At Chanakya, generations of master craftspeople, preservers and advocates of RCB PRESENTS THE ANITA PARIKH AWARD FOR WOMEN EMPOWERMENT TO KARISHMA SWALI & MONICA SHAH, FOUNDERS, CHANAKYA SCHOOL OF CRAFT hand craftsmanship have worked towards a singular aim over four decades to ensure that the magic of our artisans lives on forever.
Witnessing the rather fast and alarming pace that the world is changing, we realised that there was an acute need to preserve our heritage, special to this country and time to give back and pay it forward, and this laid the foundation for the Chanakya School of Craft.
Our foundation was born from a compelling need to implement holistic solutions for social, economic and environmental issues. The vision of the Chanakya School of Craft focuses on all round development through excellence in education, skill development and women’s empowerment, while investing in the preservation of our heritage and the promotion of our arts.
OUR SCHOOL IS DEDICATED TO WOMEN AND TEACHING MASTER CRAFT TECHNIQUES TO WOMEN. The foundation believes in transforming societies by instilling a vision, making role models and promoting a sense of community. Through our Craft Certificate programme, we have taught over a thousand women since our inception in 2016 and hope to touch many more lives every year.
MONICA SHAH
Thank you very much for this honour. It’s extremely inspiring and encouraging to be amongst you Rotarians who are known for giving back to society. Handicraft in India, as we all know, is traditionally taught from father to son. So, we thought of bringing this beautiful craft to the often-ignored backbone of our communities, women, allowing them equal opportunity and independence. The goal for Chanakya School of Craft is to create a
platform that is multi-dimensional in learning, focused on our arts and crafts.
Our mission is to provide women from low income communities with high quality education in hand embroidery, enabling them to maximise their potential and enhance their lives.
OUR STUDENTS’ STUDY MODULES DEALING WITH USE OF TECHNOLOGY, BUSINESS ACUMEN AND STARTING WITH NEW VENTURES. The benefits are two-fold. One, our skills are now revived. Second, rejuvenated by the joy and ambition of learning these crafts, they are finally
empowered. The curriculum is both robust and holistic. Over the course of a year, we cover over 300 craft techniques with modules
on pattern making, design and colour theory as well as craft documentation, visits to the museum and industry visits. At CSC, traditional craftsmanship is interpreted in contemporary ways to acknowledge, respect, protect the social and environmental sustainability of our traditional cultural expressions. The curriculum is divided into semesters, and it culminates in an internship that offers experience in global luxury craft making.
UPON COMPLETION OF A ONE YEAR CERTIFICATE AND THE INTERNSHIP, SUCCESSFUL STUDENTS HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO WORK IN OUR WOMEN’S ONLY ATELIER WITH FLEXIBLE TIMINGS. They earn a good income. They earn respect as artisans as well become a creative community that is always evolving. Our empowered leaders continue to be torchbearers of their community long after their education is completed, thus making our impact sustainable for tomorrow. As modern custodians of craftsmanship, we are privileged to promote, preserve our crafts, reinvent them and contemporise them, thus keeping them relevant for our future generations.
Thank you very much again. It is recognitions like this that keep us inspired to continue doing our very best.
