Crafts are born from the skills of the people in the area they inhabit. Kaarvan Crafts Foundation unveiled the magic at Craft Ghar Official , a space brimming with culture heritage is site for tourists to buy directly from local artisan-entrepreneurs developed by Punjab Walled Cities Authority.
Craft is intricately woven into the identity and cultural fabric of communities globally; it serves as an expression of both individual ingenuity and collective creativity. It also embodies multitudes of elements including past heritage, present livelihoods and future hopes and dreams for millions of people around the world.
Omar Mansoor is London-based fashion designer who respects culture and heritage. Omar Mansoor fosters, celebrates and rewards skills and craftsmanship. He has always held a firm belief in creativity being the artisan’s strongest asset.
Omar eloquently captures the essence of community bonds as intergenerational, cross-disciplinary, collegial, intuitive, pragmatic and deeply rooted in heritage. He emphasises the indispensable role of women's skills across the entire production journey, from the foundational acts of warping and stitching to the meticulous details of darning and finishing. These honed skills, acquired and perfected through practice, imbue the cloth with an inherent sense of luxury, showcasing the profound value of handmade artistry.
Cultivating creativity is the giving and receiving of the gifts and talents. In the villages of Pakistan, women are blurring the edges of vocation, of crafts into gifts. They are sharing not only a tangible article of clothing but also mobilising their local community to access their specialized knowledge, to teach, to add, to keep gifts/ talents in motion. Think of gifts as “teachings” or as true mentors, which awakens a part of the soul. Such gifts promise transformation as these women strive towards betterment, everything around them, i.e. society, itself becomes better too.
Working with rural artisan-entrepreneurs, Kaarvan has been transcending craft into cultivating creativity by sharing indigenous gifts and talents with the world. And now collaborating with their goodwill Ambassador Omar,
“Craft to Couture” is a revolutionary engagement in making things with meaning. Reclaiming traditions and skills, and respecting people and processes. This is a visual story of how garment from far flung villages of Multan and Bahawalpur made its way to couture Paris fashion runway.