A handicraft fair — West Bengal Hasta Shilpa Mela 2022 — is on full swing at Aikatan. Organised by the micro, small and medium enterprises and textile department, it shall continue till August 4, 2pm till 8.30pm. Entry is free. The fair has brought under a roof patachitra, junk jewellery, leather bags and various other home decor items. Here’s a glimpse of the items on offer-
Artificial bonsai
If you feel plants can change the ambience of a room but lack the time to care for them, check out these artificial bonsai. “These are assembled with parts of different real plants,” says Sraboni Chatterjee of the Dhakuria-based unit Kalpataru. “The trunk could be the branch of a neem or tea tree, prop roots could be part of a date palm tree and the greenery atop could be multiple star flowers that are popular in the Northeast.” The fabric-painted plants need no specific maintenance and should have a life of at least five years.
Price: Rs 200 (for 15-inch bonsais) to Rs 5,000 (for 5ft ones)
Wooden clocks
How about a night owl or a Steve Jobs-inspired bitten-into apple to tell the time? A workshop from Howrah has sent clocks set on such eye-catching wooden designs. “We use a single slice of pine or sonajhuri wood and carve them out as per requirement. The wood has to be burnt, chemically processed and varnished,” says Tandra Paul. “We complete batches of 50 in about a month and the clocks are then embedded on the wooden frames.”
Price: Rs 750 for the owls, Rs 1,550 to 2,500 for the apples.
Calcutta-themed magnets
What spells Calcutta like a yellow taxi, phuchka-seller or a lady draped in a white sari with red borders? Jadavpur-based unit Innere offers such iconic images on three-inch fridge magnets. “We also have mahogany wooden trays with Jamini Roy and Kalighat pat-style artwork and coasters with linocuts. Response has been good as people are picking these up for themselves and as souvenirs for others,” says Anjana Datta. “I’ve kept the prices affordable as I want art to be affordable.”
Price: Rs 150
Fish scale jewellery
Scales of rohu and katla are being recycled and sold as unbreakable jewellery at the fair. “The scales we require for this art come from fish much bigger in size than the ones we eat at home — perhaps 20 or 30kg ones that are used at weddings and other ceremonies,” says Sneha Sarkar. “The bigger the fish, the hardier the scales. We wash them, treat them with chemicals, paint and shape them. Visitors have been mistaking this jewellery to be made of fibre or some sort of nail art.”
Price: Rs 500 for earring sets, Rs 10,000 for fish-shaped wall hangings.
Theme candles
Scented candles are passe. Mahasweta Bhattacharjee has brought mugs and cups done up on themes. The sea-themed beer mug, for instance, has sand at the bottom, blue gel candle to depict the water and shells to boot. “We prefer gel candles as they last 10 times longer than the hard paraffin ones. As for scents, we have floral and fruity flavours as well as coffee and spicy ones,” says the lady from Serampore.
Price: Upwards of Rs 60; Rs 900 for the sea-theme candle.
Jute table flags
Jute dolls and animals you have seen but with less than a month to go for Independence Day, Bela Mahato bets big on flags. “I sold three or four of these in the very first couple of days,” says the artisan from Raiganj. “The jute has to be painted, braided and wrapped around the wire base of the flag structure.”
Price: Rs 150
Planters
What’s better than an artistic wall-hanging? A wall-hanging that doubles as a money plant holder. Sandip Dutta from Nimta has acrylic-painted slices of mahogany with motifs of nature and deities and at the base fixed a glass holder with a money plant. “The wall-hangings are water and insect-resistant, and can be washed clean. The plant would need to be watered just once a week,” he says.
