The “Jail Se” exhibition in Ahmedabad will encompass a wide range of products. From furniture, multi-purpose bags out of woven fabrics, kitchen apparel, story books and packaging for food items to wall hanging storage for children, everything will be present at the exhibition, which is, by the way, a collaboration between postgraduate students of the National Institute of Design and the Sabarmati Central jail to curate the brand ‘Jail Se’ for the products made by the prison inmates.
The brand aims to build a bridge between jail inmates and the public. It seeks to eliminate prejudices against prisoners. The project is formed under the “Guj Pride” organization set up by the state government for central jail to provide employment for various inmates in various industries ranging from baking to weaving furniture.
Pravinsingh K Solanki, associate senior faculty at NID said that during their visits to Sabarmati Central jail, they came to the conclusion that the items made by the inmates were of optimum quality but it was just the lack of attractive packaging that worked against their favour. He further spoke that the bread baked by the inmates, were of top-notch quality, and so was the textile including towels and other items. Hence, the students of NID held discussions with the inmates to understand their skills and resources and they finally came up with doable design prototypes that could be easily replicated at a large scale.
The exhibition was inaugurated by KLN Rao, Additional Director General of Police, at NID Friday. Aashish Khaire, a final-year postgraduate design student, talked about the issues faced in the production. He revealed that the furniture workshop had the least number of inmates working, compared to other workshops. The reason behind this fact was that the furniture required highly skilled labour. The design was complex, not easily replicable, and required skills and a long manufacturing process.
Khaire wished to surmount these challenges and curate a process that helped the skilled inmates to produce furniture with minimal training. Hence, he designed the chair in such a way that required simple jigs for cutting and drilling. He kept the components also simple in such a way that an unskilled inmate with minimum training could also operate on the project.
Packaging solutions for over 25 items were designed by the inmates. The products included bread, toast, bhujiya, bhajiyas and other snacks. The principle kept in mind was to provide a longer shelf life and to eradicate the prejudices associated with prisoners and prison. Other criteria included reasonable prices and intended social impact.
