Interactive online crafts map and repository by DICRC

The Design Innovation and Crafts Resource Center (DICRC) has been using mapping of crafts, craftspeople and craft enterprises as an approach towards identifying different types of crafts & crafts clusters and the scale of their establishments within particular regions. The process involves mapping Space Making Crafts (SMC) and Surface Narrative Crafts (SNC) and applications such as interior architecture elements, furniture, objects and accessories along with mapping craftspeople who are skilled in SMC and SNC’s. The information is recorded using a mobile based interactive application that allows capturing photographs, survey data and interviews. The data generated out of this mapping process is evaluated and is made publicly available on the Building Craft Lab, an online collaborative platform developed to generate, amalgamate, catalogue and disseminate resources related to Indian crafts and traditional and vernacular built habitat. The online repository allows users to explore traditional crafts and vernacular buildings using an interactive map interface. This one of a kind repository in India is a valuable resource for students, researchers, craftspeople, educators, design professionals as well as government stakeholders responsible for formulating policies to enhance and revice Indian crafts.