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Home Artisans and Producers Tejsi Dhana Vankar

Tejsi Dhana Vankar

Brand: Tejsibhai Dhanabhai Harijan

Company: Tejsibhai Dhanabhai Harijan

Locality: Kukma, Kutch

Tejsi Dhana Vankar Story

Artisan business and craft were severely affected by the 2001 earthquake that destroyed Gujarat and most of their livelihood. Harijan Tejshibhai Dhanabhai, a national award winner was one of them. Tejsi was a local from Kuran who migrated to a place on a hillside near Kukma with his family after the earthquake destroyed his village.

All the local residents of the village left the place and migrated to different parts. He lost his source of earning and struggled a lot to earn a living for his family. He was threatened many times to leave his craft and work in a local factory to earn 300 rupees a day for their survival. Also due to change in the market environment, Kharad was no longer a marketable item.

He was later able to gain some support from his old connections. The English designer Lindsay Taylor who is now based in Sri Lanka, helped him exhibit his rugs at Bondi Pavilion in 2012.

He then in collaboration with Khamir, saved an ancient craft technique from extinction.

Kharad Art

Kharad weaving is done with the sheared hairs of sheep, goats, and camels. Currently, this technique is being practiced by a few families only and Tejsi Dhana is one of them. It is an ancient technique which was at a verge of extinction and was adept by the tribals of Kutch. Weaving was a community act at that time where one tribe used to shear the sheep/goat/camel, another one spun the hair into yarn, the third used handloom to weave and another yielded pankar (wooden beater) to create the rug that always found moneyed supporters.

Kharad is a technique of weaving in which goat hair is hand spun with a specific method using a particular method. The knowledge is passed on through the generations along with the skills and the loom equipment used by the weavers. Kharad weavers have collaborated with Khamir who have helped them gain global buyers like Tikau, a Finland-based company, which combines Scandinavian design and Indian handicraft traditions with the vision of employing and empowering the artisans of rural India.

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