Gayatri Rath
The founders of Saptasajya Foundation, Gayatri Rath and Pravin Kumar, conceived Saptasajya Festival as a platform that allows designers, art and craft enthusiasts and casual visitors to participate in an enriching experience.
One that is creatively fulfilling for all and commercially lucrative for the practising folk craftspeople. Thus, the combined efforts are directed at promoting the local creative economy.
Pravin Kumar
The genesis of Saptasajya Festival
While growing up in Dhenkanal, Odisha, in the 1970s and 1980s, Saptasajya was a favourite picnic spot within easy cycling distance from where Gayatri’s family lived. The temple atop a strenuous winding climb and the surrounding green hills had a unique charm and just the right amount of adventure, for teenagers. Those countless picnics shaped the dream and idea of what, in 2019, became the Saptasajya Festival.
Saptasajya Festival is an annual congregation of folk artisans, art and craft enthusiasts. It is an attempt to celebrate the natural beauty and the rustic, artistic fervour of the place. Home to two Dhokra artisan groups, it also has a rich tradition of other folk crafts and performing arts.
Looking back: Saptasajya Festival 2019
The road to Saptasajya Festival 2019 involved countless discussions and email exchanges with the founders’ friend, advisor and a noted sculptor, Arunkumar H.G., the young Festival curator Bilash Sardar and his groups of mentor-designers, the local administration in Dhenkanal and the local Panchayat members.
Bilash, the Festival Curator, decided to focus on metal crafts alone in the 2019 edition and found five different groups of metal crafts artisans in Odisha, rediscovering a treasure trove of folk and tribal crafts, techniques and designs.
During the month preceding the Festival, eight designers and mentors exchanged ideas with the participating artisans and outdid themselves in how they collaborated and co-created during the Festival. Over a thousand guests and visitors applauded and encouraged them over the three days, firmly establishing the idea of the Festival.
Gayatri and Pravin’s biggest takeaway from Saptasajya Festival 2019 – creating the new excites everyone! Experimentation excites the master craftsperson who has been practising his/her craft for decades, as much as the millennial mentor-designers who casually spoke of New York fashion show while taking a stroll in the paddy fields near the Festival venue.
Looking back: Saptasajya Festival 2021
After a break in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and working within pandemic restrictions in 2021 the founders decided to organize the festival at a hotel in Dhenkanal town.
Though lacking in the natural beauty of Saptasajya the 2021 was a bigger confluence of energy and enthusiasm my the 10 designers and 40 craftspeople. The 2021 edition featured traditional bamboo, grass and applique-work in addition to the metalcrafts – Dhokra, bellmetal and metal jewelry including silver filigree.
Looking ahead:
Saptasajya Festival 2022
Saptasajya Festival 2019 was a celebration of the old even as it was a search for the new. 2021 help maintain the momentum. 2022 promises to be the year that will establish the festival firmly for its impact on the livelihood of the artisans and craftspeople.
Over the next few years, they aspire to make the Festival a milestone in a journey for art and craft enthusiasts and practitioners and a destination for visitors.
