A cock with a crash on its head; a peacock, a flower plant with two buds and diamond patterns — all sound quite common as elements. But only a few have the eyes to see through the mundane aspects of these objects and create eye-catching articles based on them.

Chandrashekhar Saha, an established designer and Mariam Begum, a creative village housewife from Charkakra village of Companiganj inNoakhali district, have the eye for this type of familiar objects and they created a new trend of design using rural motifs.

The motifs applied in the designs of sari, kamiz, fatua, T-shirt and mat displayed in the exhibition 'Bayan Sangeet' (Song of Weaving) by Nitya Upahar. a fashion outlet, express the trend of the folk art of our country.

Around eight exclusive motifs bearing the core of our riiral culture are brilliantly used with an implied insight of musical notation to create an idyllic setting in the urban fashion arena.

Bahar Rahman, a member of Nitya Upahar, organiser of the exhibition, said that the exhibition has tried to look into the sources of our culture.

"Mariam had no formal training on designing. She has a small dyeing unit of her own where she makes dyes. She picked up the motifs from the rural way of life and that is very encouraging," he said.

"We organised this exhibition to uphold our tradition. We want to promote our culture, our people and their skills,” said Bahar.

Chandrashekhar Saha, who has been working on handloombased products since 1981, said that he found the inspiration of working with rural patterns by observing the singular motifs by Mariam Begum.

"These designs are based on die rural themes. I got inspiration from Mariam's work. Then I gave

her ass gnments and started thinking of exhibiting the designs based on the motifs," he said.

"I hat e a penchant for traditional co icept. So I tried to create new tn nds preserving the authenti :ity of the source at the same tir te. I worked to create contemporary designs using traditi >nal motifs.” said Chandra ihekhar.

"In 19 J5 when I was studying textile c esign at the National Institute jfDesignlcametoknow about we wing precisely. I came in touch wi h the real weavers and I was able o translate my ideas in a finer wa t I tried to reflect my ideas in Khaddar and Tangail products which were rny baseline material!,” he said.

According to him. the mats woven in our villages are excellent examples of surface ornamentation. A mat is an indispensable part of the village life and is the core theme of the exhibition. The designs of a mat bear traditional art. In rural areas guests are welcomed to sit on mats that bears the taste of die owner of the house.

"The main job of weaving a mat is done by the rural housewives. Following two indigenous ways of weaving they create beautiful designs of cane based on traditional motifs. I have tried to maintain the rhythmic pattern of their weaving," hesaid.

There are many types of mats -- prayer mats, bed mats, sitting mats. The idea of Patishapta, a

traditional winter cake, came from the notion of mats. Mat is called 'Pati' in Bengali. The designers tried to bring that pattern on clothes.

Many artisans ofCompaniganj area of Noakhali are involved with weaving mats from the passion and interest they have for the art. Among other areas of the country, Sylhet, Faridpur, Barisal, Rajshahi, Tangail. Khulna, Rangpur, Dinajpur, Comilla and Chittagong are renowned for making mats.

"This motif-based art can be revived to breathe life into our cultural identity. Unfortunately a section of our young generation is suffering from identity crisis. We do not need Indian designs to dress our youths. If we can look into the potentials of our own culture then we can live into our traditions and have global outlook at the same time," said Chandrashekhar.

"I believe that our consumers are quite conscious about the heritage but they are sleeping. Through this kind of works we can wake them up and introduce them withour coreculture. We are also trying to show them how the products were made through a short film,"he said.

Chandrashekhar previously worked with the designs created from the clay moulds used by village housewives for making designs on Shandesh, a traditional sweetmeat.

Chandrashekhar is a member of the 'executive committee of Bangladesh National Craft Council, a consultant at.Aarong and Nogordola and co-writer of the book 'Behind the Products.' Mariam Begum is an awardwinning craftswoman at the National Crafts Council.

The exhibition opened on October 6 and will continue for seven days on the third floor of Aziz Super Market at Shahbagh.