Folktales from Toyland

Conducting workshops for the much ignored toy making community across the country, improving their designs and training them in quality control methods, the premier design institute seems to be doing it all within the banner of their Toy Design and Development, a post-graduate programme.

‘‘We have neglected a craft that depicts India’s culture at grassroot level. Each community in India has its own traditions which are reflected in the toys made by soft wood, paper and bright colours.’’ says Prof Sudarshan Khanna who heads the toy design department in NID.

From the past two decades, Sudarshan Khanna has been working with over 50 toymaking communities in Gujarat, Varanasi, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. Besides innovating simple and educational toys for children, he has been making toys for physically and mentally challenged children which are now being used by several institutions in Europe.

‘‘The culture of dynamic folk toys is rapidly disappearing as it has lost its grip over the urban market where traditional toys have been replaced by plastic toys which are costlier but are popular as they are associated with modernity. There is very little conscious design development by the makers of traditional toys. Most toys are based on designs evolved generations ago,’’ says a student of the faculty who has recently conducted a workshop for toy-making community in Andhra Pradesh.

‘‘We look at three things while designing a toy: safety of the child, the toy should generate some thoughts in the childs mind and it should look exciting and simple,’’ says Gayatri Menon, senior faculty member of the toy department who admits that the market is saturated with cheap duplicate plastic toys, leaving very little place for folk toys.

SINCE many toymakers have been looking at their work as just routine, there have been no new ideas. It is here that the NID comes into the picture.

The two-and-a-half year programme at the institute, is project based and lays emphasis on child culture, status of Indian toy industry and provides training to toy makers.

‘‘Each toy should have a purpose. The toys made by the traditional communities are simple, with no batteries but they have a unique quality of making a child curious and happy at the same time,’’ says Veljibhai, a toymaker living in Maninagar area of the city. Veljibhai and many like him have attended the workshops that are regularly organised by the institute.

Besides, training the toy makers, the institute is also training school teachers who can include toy making within their syllabus, hoping that every child would be able to make a toy of his own.

‘‘It is a distant dream, but dreams do come true,’’ says Khanna who spins a new toy using anything and everything around him.