THEME DESCRIPTION

Craft is knowledge that lives in the hands. Much of it was never written down. It is learned by watching, by repeating, by getting it wrong and trying again. This tacit knowledge, passed from one maker to the next, is carried in the feel of a material, the timing of a gesture and the judgement of a finished edge.

Every craft also carries stories. They are the stories of the people who practise it, the communities that sustain it, and the places and materials it grew from. The object that leaves the workshop holds only a trace of them.

SHILPSUTRA, the International Open Elective 2026, is about craft, the stories within it and the tacit knowledge that keeps it alive. Over two weeks, from 4 to 15 January, it brings master artisans and students together across the Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Gandhinagar campuses to explore the process of craft instead of its product.

This year’s Open Electives invite master artisans from diverse practices and places to teach as ‘design teachers’. They will hold exploratory workshops that trace each craft’s journey from raw material to finished form, and from their own hands to the next. Students learn by making alongside them, and learn first by listening, watching and doing. Artisans from India and from other craft traditions, from Japan, Bhutan, Srilanka etc., bring different materials, techniques and ways of working. Across the two weeks, students will make, talk, observe and document, and bring what they learn together at the end.SHILPSUTRA offers students a way into craft through practice. They will get the privilege of co-creating with master artisans, following each craft’s process and discovering the personal, collective and evolving stories rooted within it.