ahmedabad taking forward the legacy of textile artisanship the world renowned fashion designer from ahmedabad asif shaikh is on a mission to revive and promote heritage textile crafts that are fading into the oblivion having realized that textile crafts can only be kept alive if artisans get their due recognition shaikh founded craftsdesignsociety cds which recently registered as a company known as cds art foundation cds art foundation will facilitate collaboration between textile artisans and fashion designers the artisans and designers will not only cocreate and innovate but also create contemporary couture with traditional textile crafts such as ajrak bandhani pashmina patola batik ikat and kalamkari among several otherstextile heritage is part of our culture and if we lose these we will lose an important aspect of our culture our aim is not just to empower artisans but also to encourage the younger generation in artisan families to learn and continue evolving these heritage crafts this can only be achieved when craftsmen not only get recognition but also opportunities to create innovate and sustain the art said asifcds art foundation aims to educate textile craftsmen on aspects such as innovation and experimentation which they dont usually take up due to limited means instead of giving the artisans a livelihood we aim to enable them to innovate and create a market for their craft the goal is to make indias handcrafted textiles as inspiring as any global brand this will inspire the younger generation in artisan families to preserve their generationsold textile craftsmanship said gauri wagenaar committee member cds arts foundation and an art historian walking handinhandto give these artisans respect and recognition cds curated a fashion show walking handinhand which was held at the national institute of design nid in ahmedabad last year the collection shown a line of garments was cocreated by artisans and designers in a particular craft who also walked the ramp and explained their craft part of the collection was also showcased at lakme fashion week in mumbai last march walking handinhand will be held again this year as part of archiprix 2017 at cept university on february 9 the couture presented at the show will comprise textile crafts such as bani thani paintings from rajasthan bandhani and bhujodi from bhuj ajrakh from kutch batik from mundra kashmiri weaves and ikat from telangana and maheshwari from madhya pradesh banarasi weaves among others before each collection the craft will be explained in brief with details of its origin so people know what it is about fabrics are an integral part of architecture and therefore archiprix 2017 will be a good platform to showcase traditional indian textile crafts before world renowned architects explained asif gujarati craftsmen on a global podiumafter showcasing their craft at walking handinhand 2016 two artisans from kutch got an opportunity to do so on a global platform abdul jabbar mohammad khatri a 9th generation artisan of ajrak block printing art from dhamadka in anjar taluka of kutch conducted a workshop at nottingham trent university