Supported / Helmed by: Galleries, Foundations and Institutions

Travancore Palace, New Delhi

8th January – 23rd January 2027

Before there is what we may confidently call ‘Art’, paper is easily, readily and delightfully identified within the Craft and Design paradigms since forever. Both in traditional craftsmanship as well as in contemporary design, the medium of paper finds ‘utility’ in an amazing diversity of ways. In creativity, and to the creative soul, there should be no categorizations of Art, Design, Craft and so on. But Art, Craft and Design fulfill slightly different needs and modes of society and culture. Thus, it makes sense to focus on a specialized category of Craft + Design that explores thinking and making with paper. Paper occupies a unique position in craft and design because it is simultaneously a material, a process, a medium of communication, and a cultural symbol. Far more than wood, metal or stone, paper carries meanings that extend well beyond its physical properties. Its implications can be understood across several dimensions. By bringing together artisans, designers, and makers, this category celebrates the exchange of knowledge between craft traditions and design thinking.

Participants in this Section are asked to ponder these 6 key takeaways on paper in Craft & Design: 

1. Paper as a Democratic Material: Paper is one of the most accessible materials ever invented. It allows participation across social and economic backgrounds, enables folk traditions alongside high art and encourages experimentation because failure is inexpensive.
2. Paper as a Material of Transformation: Paper begins as an almost featureless sheet. Form is generated almost entirely through process rather than mass. For designers, this is profound because geometry, rather than material quantity, creates strength.
3. Paper Reveals Process: Paper rarely hides how it was made. This honesty gives paper a powerful aesthetic quality. In craft this celebrates hand-making and labour. In contemporary design it aligns with ideas of truthful construction, visible fabrication and process aesthetics.
4. Paper as a Sustainable Material: Modern design increasingly values paper because it represents – renewable fibres, recyclability, biodegradability, relatively low embodied energy and circular material cycles. This has shifted paper from being merely a communication medium to becoming an important ecological material.
5. Paper as a Bridge Between Craft and Industry: Paper occupies a rare middle ground. Craft traditions include – origami, kirigami, papier-mâché, quilling, marbling, hand papermaking, bookbinding among many other techniques. Industrial processes include – offset printing, laser cutting, CNC plotting, robotic folding, digital scoring and automated laminating, gluing and packaging techniques. Very few materials move so seamlessly between hand production and industrial manufacture.
6. Paper as a Cultural Material: Different cultures have developed distinct relationships with paper.

Japan: refinement, ritual, precision, impermanence (origami, washi, shoji screens)

China: invention of paper, calligraphy, paper cutting, festivals

India: kite making, papier-mâché (Kashmir), miniature painting, handmade cotton rag paper

Europe: books, printmaking, architectural drawing, engineering documentation

Thus, paper carries different cultural meanings depending on context.

The India Paper Triennial seeks entries in the Craft + Design Section which directly address two or more of these takeaways in their product, artifact or design object.