
Cultural ambassadors of India
H.C. Gera
S HADIPUR Depot in South Delhi is neither famous for shopping nor it is on the tourist map of Delhi. But Kathputli Colony, a slum beneath the bridge of Shadipur Depot, is famous the world over. What is so special about this place? click here to read full story

Glocal Village
High priest of design, Rajeev Sethi, now takes his skills all the way to Hanover, Germany Dhiraj Singh on Rajeev Sethi
Known variously back home as artist manque, patron saint of street puppeteers, godfather of local artisans and high priest of design who finds his natural habitat at cultural dos, Rajeev Sethi is back in the news. He has erected a shrine to the new humanity in cool, faraway Germany and decorated it with the functional art of people whose only access to visibility is through people like himself. click here to read full story

Interviews Rajeev Sethi.
Yuriko
I called upon Mr. Rajeev Sethi, an eminent scenographer and designer who travels to all corners of the world and remains involved in various important design projects in different corners of the globe. His office is situated in a residential area in the central part of South Delhi, behind a well-known shopping centre that has been recently enlivened by the influx of the arrival of increasingly more European and American specialty shops. We had been fostering our friendship for some years and I had the opportunity to assist him with his exhibition at the National Mall in Washington DC which he had designed for the Silk Road Festival, where I had helped him to create some of the exhibits. He was considerate enough to accommodate me with my request for an interview although he was extremely busy. click here to read full story


'Creative and cultural industries have the largest growth potential'
By Rashme Sehgal
With around 250 million artists and craftspersons, India is crying out for a large-scale repositioning and transformation of traditional skills for the global market. Rajeev Sethi, long-time supporter of the crafts sector, discusses his plans to do this by setting up a National Mission on India's creative industries. click here to read full story

Towards a national policy
RAJEEV SETHI
IT is now more than 20 years since the concept of cultural diplomacy was first put on the anvil and some of us became involved with launching the Festivals of India in the West. Despite their success as a confidence-building exercise and their enormous public appeal, they soon became mired in controversy for lack of a clear game plan. click here to read full story


'Jiyo!' Rajiv Sethi corporatizes crafts and heritage
Shanta Serbjeet Singh, New Delhi, August 15, 2009
Back in 1982, when Rajiv Sethi first raised his striking, Grecian head on the cultural horizon, I remember describing him, in a full page article in The Hindustan Times, on the occasion of the first Festival of India in Britain, as an Adonis come to earth! Indeed. Rajiv's dark curly mop framed a very fair, perfectly proportioned profile and a well-built, tall statuesque body that could have stepped out of a Gandhara sculpture. Physical features apart, here was an original, creative mind in every sense of the word. click here to read full story

Culture Shock The artistes in these slums have travelled the world over with their art By Anna M.M. Vetticad, October 22, 2001 t's a long way from Kathputli Colony to the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. For puppeteer Bala Bhatt it's the distance between two worlds. Having recently performed in that historic Scottish city and in Sicily, Bhatt has returned to the squalor he calls home. Seated on a charpoy in his battered shanty in Delhi, he takes on the role of a spokesperson for his people's misery. click here to read full story

Silk Route in Washington, designed by India

Renuka Narayanan

New Delhi, March 27: On SATURDAY night (March 23), about 30 truckloads produced by desi artisans and painters left a bustling workshop in Sultanpur Village on the edge of the Capital in the first lap of a journey to Washington's National Mall. click here to read full story

SOME KIND OF TINSELTOWN

Independent, The (London), Feb 20, 2000 by Peter Popham

IT IS NOT on the tourist route: in fact, Shadipur Depot, in Delhi, is the sort of place that would send any package traveller screaming back to the bus. It might be the large rats, the streams of dubious liquid trickling down the zig-zag alleys, the huge, steaming, oily, jet black, curly-horned buffalo you come face-to-face with on turning a corner. Or it might just be the people: that wry, settled gaze they lay on you, waiting for you to step in a buffalo pat. click here to read full story

Article on Rajeev Sethi
By Yuriko Lochan
I called upon Mr. Rajeev Sethi, an eminent scenographer and designer who travels to all corners of the world and remains involved in various important design projects in different corners of the globe. His office is situated in a residential area in the central part of South Delhi, behind a well-known shopping centre that has been recently enlivened by the influx of the arrival of increasingly more European and American specialty shops. Click here to read full story