Cultural heritage embodied in traditional crafts is an integral part of any country, which reflects the culture and tradition of a region. Although the importance of handicraft has been widely recognized, but still it’s hard to find any literature regarding archiving or preservation of traditional crafts. My aim is to explore and identify issues faced by traditional craftsmanship in Pakistan and to address these issues in order to contribute to the sustainability of traditional craft heritage and to ensure continuous transmission of craft skills and knowledge from generation to generation. Firstly, I would like to talk about the main issues which pose challenges to the traditional craft heritage in Pakistan. I have researched on the Pakistani handicraft industry to be able to understand the concerns which craft and artisans face.
Due to the industrialization and mass production, the products are becoming commoditized and the traditional handicrafts are replaced by machine made products, which results into a competition of price with similar substitute products produced by machines. Besides, the shift in the urban way of life, there has been a decrease of the desire for traditional handicraft industry. For instance, the leather shoes are being replaced by the plastic scandals, resulting in displacing the shoemaker. Similarly, the aluminum or plastic plates, bowls, jugs and cups are replacing pottery items. There are various other examples where the handicrafts are replaced by mass-produced items. Therefore, the handmade products are disappearing from the market very fast. The handicraft is not being valued and appreciated by price the mass produced products are giving a tough competition as they are cheaper.
China is giving a tough competition in terms of production of handicrafts . The Global Market Assessment Report of USAID says that “China can produce anything, better than anyone else and at a better price”.
On the other hand, Pakistani handicraft industry is facing the lack of innovation in design and emphasized that artisans should adopt modern tastes of customers to compete in the market. Also, there is a wide gap of cooperation between designers and artisans, the designers have the professional knowledge and know how about the modern taste and artisans have cultural heritage skills and knowledge, thus their cooperation can lead to expansion of business and competitiveness. In addition, the poor infrastructure has damaged this sector, in most of the rural areas during peak summer season, there is power outages/load shedding for up to 12 h a day which hinders production process leading to noncompetitive business. Moreover, due to unwillingness of young generation to pursue this career, many craft tradition have disappeared and many are struggling for survival.
WE need to have a supportive infrastructure and govt policies to ensure the survival of our heritage. If we do not take the right measure to facilitate the artisans in terms of soft loans to establish the cottage industry . otherwise in few decades all handmade products will become extinct.
Tools & Technology in Art Education 