The Bharat Brand - The History and Patronage of India’s Artisanal Luxury Products
Shanane Davis journeys with the audience through India’s long history as source for many of the world’s finest luxuries. She speaks of how India for centuries dominated global trade in exquisite artisanry: its perfume was sought by Rome, Rome and Europe had a voracious appetite for its muslin, its mojaris were the rage among the Persians and Ottomans, Indian lacquer went to China and Japan, Indian cut diamonds were snapped up in France, Flanders, Russia, Prussia and Saxony, and its gorgeously dyed chintz flowed out on India’s tides to Holland, France and England.
At its height, the Mughal Empire was the richest in the world. All this came to an end when the East India Company took over Indian trade, then controlled South Asia’s production, and finally, yielding to the British Crown, handed the entire Subcontinent to British colonial rule.
Under the Raj, artisanry was replaced by industrial manufacture, and India, which had so long exported its bedazzling goods, became dependent on English imports. Knowledge about how to make Indian luxury began to die out, as Indians learned to became hungry, instead, for foreign and especially English products.
Shanane’s journey ends with new beginnings, as she discusses her own and other efforts to revive many of India’s most superb luxury crafts. A well-educated market is critical to the ecologically and economically sensitive crafting of true luxury, and she urges her audience to understand how important it is for them to become discerning participants—she uses the evocative and powerful word “connoisseurs”–in the revival of South Asia’s unique high-quality decorative arts.
