The Sahara Handicrafts and Handloom Association is a leading art and craft association in India, which hosts several craft fairs and shows.
The Sahara Handicrafts and Handloom Association organises craft festivals. This association organises Sahara Art and Crafts Shopping Festival at Swapna Nagari in Kozhikode. This expo aims to provide an opportunity for direct interaction between artisans and consumers, eliminating interference from middlemen. The exquisite artifacts and handloom accessories showcase an array of handloom variations which attracts huge crowds. The items of the craft festival include `mojaris` and `juties` from Rajasthan, jewelry and handloom from Orissa, Pashmina shawls and products from Kashmir as well as `zari` designs and fabrics from Bihar. Keeping the contemporary trend in mind the local artisans create fusion art, designs and craft.
The Sahara Handicrafts and Handloom Association enable to showcase the craftsmen to exhibit their artistry in a broader aspect for trading. Exotic handicrafts from different places are displayed in the expos organised by Sahara Handicrafts and Handloom Association. These exclusive exhibitions draw people from all over India and abroad as well for classy and intricately carved handicrafts made of neem wood like Ganesha reposing under a large, leafy tree, an inscrutable Buddha with his company, as Lakshmi, Saraswati, Vishnu and a pantheon of gods take up space on various branches and look down benignly. Such handicrafts attract customers as well as small and big traders. Moreover, such fairs organised by Sahara Handicrafts and Handloom Association trade bangles, sarees, bedspreads and bed sheets etc. These are colourfully designed to suit the fancy of the urban people. Each and every state has something to offer in these fairs and each state demonstrates its cultural and artistic speciality. For instance, Lucknowi chikan work from UP, lac bangles and block prints from Rajasthan, soft `mulmul` in myriad floral prints, `ethnic` block prints in more sombre shades of indigo and maroon actually deserve to be appraised.
In addition to these there are stalls at the fairs organised by Sahara Handicrafts and Handloom Association that flaunt traditional art and handicrafts. These comprise slippers in every conceivable shade and style, silver jewellery, beautiful filigree work on bangles, pearl bangles, a delightful array of pottery, all the way from Khurja, near Meerut, earrings, brooches and pendants, lacework in silver receive huge admiration from the customers and appeals to the traders. When it comes to textiles, Sahara Handicrafts and Handloom Association hosts a wide variety of exhibitions to showcase textiles of different states along with the speciality and sometimes fusion works that appeal to the buyers. It offers hand-woven, vegetable dyed motifs, sarees of all attractive colours like mustards, amethyst, sandalwood, crimson, emerald green with intricate laceworks and `zardosi` work, `Bomkai Ikkat` of Orissa, `Tangails` and `Kaanthas` and some interestingly hand-painted `Dhanekaali` saris from West Bengal.
Even items for men are also admired hugely as exhibitions of Sahara Handicrafts and Handloom Association propose wide display for men too. A variety of Khadi kurtas and Khadi Shirts, footwares etc are hugely sold in reasonable price ranges. Apart from handicrafts, jewellery and other stuff, the fairs arrange separate food station where different types of pickles, chat stalls that have come all the way from Rajasthan, for some genuine north Indian snacks. Moreover, the craftsmen display an array of pickle jars, bowls just perfect for setting curds, salad dishes and serving trays that come in a kaleidoscope of colours and prints, teapots with mugs in cheery patterns and other household stuff.
