Craftology is an Approach to the Indigenous Design of Manipur Pottery in the Present Socio-Economic Context | Original Article

ABSTRACT:

ABSTRACT

Manipur is a well-known place for its strong cultural heritage and traditional practices. Making pottery is one of the age-old conventional technologies among the ethnic communities in Manipur, and they have established their rich past cultural heritage and prosperity in time. This paper aims to present the design team that conducted the 15 days pottery design workshop in Andro village in Manipur. The primary focus of this workshop is to develop a new contemporary product design using craftlogy as (a scientific method) to increase manufacturing competitiveness and productivity. Craftology comprises the words' craft' and 'technology,' further, craftology was adopted to enhance the new product development and the quality of the pottery objects. The design team carried out detailed research from the available resources such as online, telephonic conversation with the artisans, etc. After analyzing the data, a meaningful contextual design was created for the artisans. Based on the research, a customized two-weeks workshop was organized for pottery craft that included learning through interactions, demonstrations, hands-on explorations and exposure towards alternate practices and techniques, surface design, product ergonomics, and afterall product development based on the useability aspect of invention. This research studies has been taken an attempt that how artisans can use craftology to develop a contemporary design for the market. The interactive design research achieved through personal interviews with the potters, detailed observation of their entire product development process, and group discussion with the artisans helped to adopt this novel method.