“The people who made these things have nothing else to give except their painstaking work. And now they are collected by people who have everything.”
The parting words of Griff Rhys Jones, from his latest programme, which saw him visiting the north Indian State of Gujurat in search of the area’s famed embroidery skills.
As the ways of the modern world transform ever increasing numbers of peoples and cultures, what will be the fate of the skills developed by these cultures over thousands of years? Should they be promoted? Protected? Revered as things of dedication and beauty, still current in their appeal? Or relegated to museums and books, as things of the past?
