The 5 th edition of Craftworks, brought to you by Aira Mirchandani and Monica Dalvi, kicked off to a glorious start. The collection of items on sale at this exhibition, on September 20, was breathtakingly exquisite. Many of the vendors at the exhibition come from an educational background in art and the colourful creative results were telling.
And, of those self-taught exhibitors, one can discern the untapped artistic potential making a spectacular appearance in the form of their wares. Aira’s table had, among her products, sensory quilts for patients with dementia. The quilts are divided into portions that provide for activities as well as tactile perception.
The quilts come in various levels of difficulty, depending on the patient’s decline. The activity portions include zippers, buttons that can be buttoned and unbuttoned, movement of beads, braiding and weaving , whereas the tactile bits are various shapes and sizes of buttons, textures of cloth, etc. The sensory quilts are excellent to occupy the patient for hours together, enabling the caregiver some respite.
“If you take the patient to a doctor’s appointment, an unfamiliar and uncomfortable situation can be diffused with the help of the quilt, which can be placed on the lap,” says Aira. The quilt has been put together through research and ingenuity. She says, “It’s not just about putting things together.
It has to appeal aesthetically too. You see, each quilt has a dominant colour , against which I may ha.