The founder is traveling to India for PROJECT GLASS SUTRA
Company Name: MY CREATION
Proprietor/Principal promoter: Ms. Reshmi Dey
Studio Address: Studio No 6&7
19 Ambavatta Green, Sultanpur
Mandi Road, Chattarpur
New Delhi 110030
Web Address: www:glasssutra.com
Product: Glass Art/Glassware
INTRODUCTION
In India glass-making dates back several centuries. But glass making in India did not advance beyond the initial and very rudimentary stage.
Handmade glass products are artisan-centric, the creation of which offers great scope for creativity given proper skill and an organized approach. Though India has a large number of glass artisans concentrated in different pockets and clusters, they are mainly concentrated at Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh. These artisans are mostly from a rural background, and have not been exposed to any formal training in glass-making technology and techniques. Industry has been driven by only mass production giving little attention to quality and design based on research and development. This has also led to the neglect of the importance of skill upgrade through formal training driven by industry and market.
So, for all practical purposes, and in spite of the tremendous potential, handmade glass in India is rare, simply because the opportunity to develop glass making as a craft with an artistic approach continues to be non-existent.
Along with the other problems in the Industry, the role of the woman has been relegated to that of cleaner of dangerous debris such as broken glass.
Context: It is in the context of the potential role of women in an industry, Reshmi’s role assumes importance. Reshmi is an artist and social entrepreneur in the field of glass in India. She has been pursuing her glass craft and art career for over ten years.
She had started her journey into the world of glass by watching the Indian glass crafters working at the various furnaces in Firozabad. Confronted with the lack of understanding and knowledge of the material and techniques, limited skill and lack of a professional approach within the industry; she embarked on a formal training in glass techniques and technology at The International Glass Centre, Dudley, U.K., with a specialization in hot glass blowing.
Her quest to learn and understand the art and craft of glass made her travel extensively in the Czech Republic, Italy, Sweden and the USA, renown for craftsmanship, quality and creativity in glass.
She has been working under her own company, My Creation, with the brand Glass Sutra, and promoting studio glass in India working with the glass cluster at Firozabad.
Her clientele includes large corporations, hotels and private large properties and individuals.
She has also worked for four years with The International Labour Organization (ILO) on Skill Development Initiative (SDI) Programme of the Ministry of Labour and Employment of the Government of India, providing technical assistance for the consolidation of methodologies and operational framework, along with creating competency standards and allied materials for training. She was heading the programme for the glass industry coordinating with local administration, ILO and the Director General of Employment and Labour under Ministry of Labour, Government of India.
Having struggled to learn the glass techniques in India due to its lack of availability, Reshmi realized that she was looking for a greater mission for herself – to introduce the “Studio Glass” concept in India that is a skill based and design-oriented technique. She realized that sharing of knowledge and an open access to learning would bring about the much needed momentum to the Industry as seen in The international studio glass movement that originated in America in the 1960’s, thereafter widely spreading to Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia and Asia. The emphasis of this movement was on the artist as the designer and maker of one-of-a-kind objects. This movement enabled the sharing of technical knowledge and ideas among artists and designers that within the industry would not have been possible. This saw, the growth of studio art glass leading to the formation of glass schools and art studios located across the country.
This led to her determination that this movement could be replicated in India.
But in order to realize her ambitions of “bringing glass to the people” and to make it a viable industry for the ever-increasing number of glass enthusiasts, it is imperative that Reshmi has her own studio, where she can demonstrate the tremendous qualities of the material to the maximum extent.
The studio would provide the space to allow Reshmi and all those working with her to express their commitment to artistic education, creativity, innovation, and experimentation through glass. It is her wish that by creating an environment with a singular focus on glass, access to resources, and an ever-expanding interest in glass, that the studio becomes the largest and most comprehensive research and development center in India for artisans and artists working in glass and also would produce quality and artistic pieces.
Reshmi has been working tirelessly for over a year to generate support and to finalize the equipment and machineries for the first phase of the studio, which finally taking its shape and should be ready to commission by the first quarter of 2016.
The studio will offer various activities related to glass making to promote studio glass by doing tailor made workshops ranging from basic Glass Art & Craft Appreciation classes to Intensive Glass making classes.
These workshops will also offer important life skills such as, Personality development, Team building, Problem solving and Conflict resolution.
Reshmi just does not want to be an Artist or Entrepreneur, but she also wants to become a social entrepreneur by doing various life skill activities through glass making for the socially disadvantaged women and girl child and physically or mentally differently abled people who have the full hand coordination. On this she would be working with various NGOs and schools.
In Conclusion
She is well respected within the worldwide faculty of Glass artists, who are willing to support in her venture. She is planning to set up a visiting artists program, so that these well known artists will come to her Delhi Studio to do workshops and teach-in for various groups
To promote the activities of the studio and spread the awareness about studio glass art, Glass Sutra looks forward to assistance from international and national organizations, individuals, fellow artists and professionals who would understand and appreciate the effort by extending help financially or in any other way to best realize this dream.