Laila Tyabji
| Laila Tyabji | |
|---|---|
| Born |
2 May 1947 (age 70) Delhi, India |
| Occupation | Craft designer and social activist |
| Years active | since 1968 |
| Awards |
Padma Shri Aid to Artisans Preservation of Craft Award NIFT Lifetime Achievement Award Chishti Harmony Award Limca Book of Records Person of the Year |
| Website | Official web site |
Laila Tyabji (born May 2, 1947) is an Indian social worker, designer, writer, and craft activist. She is one of the founders of Dastkar, a Delhi-based non governmental organization, working for the revival of traditional crafts in India. She was honored by the Government of India in 2012 with the Indian civilian award of Padma Shri. She is the daughter of late Badruddin Tyabji, ICS, who was a senior Indian civil servant and diplomat.
Laila Tyabji was born in Delhi on 2 May 1947 in a Sulaimani Bohra Muslim family to an Indian civil servant as one of his four children. Her early schooling was in schools abroad and at the Welham Girls' School in Dehradun. She subsequently continued her studies in art at the Faculty of Fine Arts, MS University, Vadodara. Later, she went to Japan to study with Toshi Yoshida,the well-known Japanese printmaking artist, before returning to India to start a career as a freelance designer. Assignments included graphic and interior design, costumes and sets for the theatre, garments and textiles.
The turning point in her career came when Tyabji was asked by the Gujarat State Handloom and Handicrafts Development Corporation to document, revive and design the traditional handicrafts of Kutch tradition. The assignment, originally fixed for 3 months got prolonged to six. Returning from Kutch, Tyabji worked as a merchandiser for Taj Khazana, a chain of luxury lifestyle stores run by Taj Group of Hotels, dealing in Indian arts and crafts. However, the difficulties of getting small rural artisans to benefit from and become a sustainable part of the mainstream retail chain gave Tyabji the idea of starting an organisation that would act as a bridge between craftspeople and urban buyers.
A meeting with Bunny Page, a Parsi woman with the same concerns and ideas, and many discussions and meetings, resulted in Tyabji co-founding Dastkar with five other women in 1981 The object was to give traditional craftspeople the design, product development, market information, and entrepreneurship training that would help them regain their place in the mainstream market. The Dastkari Bazaars, where craftspeople came directly to sell their own products in the Metro market, were both a sales opportunity and a learning place for craftspeople who had never previously encountered their urban customers. It was a novel idea at that time - much imitated since. The inaugural Dastkari Bazaar was held in New Delhi, the same year at the Triveni Kala Sangam. Bazaars in Mumbai, Kolkota, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, and other Indian cities followed, and became annual events.
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