Indian arts and crafts are unique in their great diversity, abundance, nuance and manifold social significance.

Some concepts that are deeply embedded in these traditional arts and craft practises; like pramana (propriety), evidence based practice, prayoga (application and experimentation), dhwani (resonance with the world), uddhesa (purpose) that are found in treatises, can be seen in the workshops  and practice rooms of traditional artists and artisans even today.

In these series of workshops, we use these concepts to guide thinking and analysis, so that our view of Bharatiya kala and karigari may go beyond technique and performance. So that we begin thinking  beyond design, market and reach other levels of criticism of such concepts.  We understand their social significance and contexts, their transmission as embodied knowledge, their underlying philosophical and ethical continuities, all of which go into making them uniquely Indian.

Talking with Tradition approaches the grandeur and sophistication of Indian arts and craft through a series of workshops called Talking with Tradition (TWT). DDF did two editions of TWT in collaboration with Baithak Foundation, Pune.