About 220 persons participated in a workshop titled ‘Experience Handmade’ where they learnt some aspects of pottery, carpentry and palm leaf origami at the School of Communication here on Saturday.
Children as young as six years to senior citizens participated in the one-day workshop, which had two sessions from 9.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Resource persons, Raghuram Kulal of Aloor village taught pottery, Krishna Poojary trained the participants in palm leaf origami, while Subraya Achari, gave a demonstration and encouraged the participants to do various items using wood.
The SOC, a constituent of Manipal Unviersity, organized the workshop in collaboration with the Concerned for the Working Children, a NGO. Participants sat together in two circles at the lounge of SOC, where they tried their hands in making lamps (‘diyas’), vases, small pots and other items from clay. They encouraged one another in the preparation of these items.
Anushree Hegde, a dentist, said since she was interested in pottery, she did not want to miss the opportunity of participating in the workshop. “There are people of all ages here. I feel like a child doing various pottery items. The resource persons are helpful,” she said.
Chetana, a bakery owner, said she was attending the workshop on carpentry. “This is my brush with carpentry. It is an interesting event. I have done a keychain holder,” she said.
K. Nandini, a student of final year B.A. Journalism and Communications, said she had always been interested in crafts and origami. She showed the two small baskets done by her with palm leaves, which she said, could be used as decorative items. “It is an enriching workshop,” she said.
The enthusiasm among the participants was appreciated by the resource persons as well. Mr. Krishna Poojary said the participants were interested in the workshop and followed the instructions given to them.
“But each session in the workshop is of three-hour duration, which is a bit less for them. More than the young participants, I feel the adults are more interested,” he said.
