Lok Mela serves as lifeline for country’s fading traditional crafts

ISLAMABAD: The lively Lok Mela competition has advanced from a party into a critical help gadget for the us of a’s diminishing conventional crafts, allowing artisans nationwide to display their creations, earn reputation, and hold their ancestral legacies. Lok Mela stands as a beacon of wish in a unexpectedly modernizing world in which centuries-old crafts often face the hazard of extinction. This 12 months, a good sized number of young artisans graced the festival, lots of whom had been apprentices gaining knowledge of the trade beneath the tutelage in their elders. Participation of those artisans has pondered a developing interest among the children in maintaining the cultural treasures in their regions. Samia Inam, a wholesale cloth entrepreneur, shared her adventure of using women from Bahawalpur to produce top notch hand-embroidered clothes. Her clothes, starting from Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 10,000, exemplify complicated craftsmanship. While consumers an increasing number of lean closer to branded outfits, Samia believes the distinctiveness and sturdiness of hand embroidery are regaining reputation. However, she stated a disparity in profits, with artisans from far flung regions operating for minimal wages at the same time as dealers earn substantial profits. Naeem Soomro, a Kashigar from Hala, Sindh, captivated visitors with his display of Kashi Kari merchandise inclusive of jars, vases, and fountains. This ancient art shape, historically confined to blue and white coloured designs, has advanced with colourful colorings to meet present day demand. While Naeem takes satisfaction in persevering with his family’s legacy, he lamented the intense labor required and the younger generation’s waning interest within the craft. Yet, schooling centers in Hala are striving to preserve the art alive for local and global markets. While Lok Mela gives a essential platform for artisans, many expressed issues about low profitability, lack of patronage, and diminishing hobby the various younger era. But nonetheless, events like those deliver wish, connecting craftspeople with large audiences and beginning doorways to new possibilities. Shahid Hussain of Khairpur is keeping the craft of `Lungi and Khes weaving’, a legacy surpassed down via his mother, Siyani Khatoon who is a Civil Award recipient. Despite the admiration for home made shawls, Shahid faces declining call for due to the supply of less expensive, system-made options. He emphasised the need for government support to ensure the survival of those labor-intensive yet culturally enormous crafts. Raiban Baloch from Balochistan added a completely unique contact to the Lok Mela together with her stall of date-leaf products, including desk mats, baskets, and pen holders. Having earned over Rs. 60,000 throughout the event, she highlighted the exhausting nature of her craft and the reluctance of her kids to continue this unprofitable subculture. Denaar from Chitral at a stall featured Kalashi handmade caps, clothes, and embellishes, gadgets well-liked for his or her forte global. She expressed concern over the monetary viability of such crafts, advocating for their promotion in large markets at the same time as encouraging the younger technology to prioritize schooling alongside cultural protection. For many younger artisans, Lok Mela isn’t just a marketplace but it’s far an confirmation of their fee in retaining Pakistan’s cultural identification. The recognition and appreciation they receive at the festival boosts their morale and their commitment to crafts. For Noor-e-Sahar, a pupil from Kashmir stated, Lok Mela supplied her first taste of entrepreneurship. Her stall featuring Kashmiri tea, kulchas, and selfmade cupcakes drew overwhelming reward. Inspired by way of her initial fulfillment, Noor is making plans to keep mixing her instructional pastimes along with her passion for showcasing Kashmiri culinary tradition via such platforms. Amir Hamza, a younger boy from Peshawar expressed his passion for designing hand-crafted rings, together with jewelry, necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. Despite present day tendencies, those elaborate portions continue to attract customers, reinforcing the timeless appeal of traditional craftsmanship. Similarly, Sana Ansari, who has specialized in rings layout on account that completing her schooling at the Indus Valley School of Arts, shared her adventure of mixing inventive innovation with cultural background. The annual feature of Lok Mela arranged via the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage (Lok Virsa) served as a reminder that cultural history isn’t just a relic of the past but a residing, respiration part of our identification. By inspiring the young people to embody and evolve those traditions, Lok Mela ensures that Pakistan’s cultural tapestry remains vibrant for future generations to come. The competition additionally underscores the urgent want to support conventional arts via marketplace get admission to, government patronage, and adolescents engagement to ensure these crafts no longer simplest continue to exist but thrive inside the future years.