With decades of experience in hand block printing, Rajkumar is now training young budding artists and continuously promoting the artform nationally and internationally.

Rajkumar Pandey is a hand block printing artist. The block printing art is his family’s traditional occupation which has been passed on from generation to generation.

Rajkumar is a resident of Jaipur, Rajasthan. He says his childhood was spent in Sanganer village where he used to help his family in the block printing work along with his studies. He remembers there was not much stress given on studies at the time as every family was engaged in their own  traditional occupation.

Talking about his journey, Rajkumar says that he did not receive any professional training in the art and learned all the techniques through his elders as it was a traditional family business. Their whole family, including female members and children, were involved in the work. He remembers that, between 1994-1996 block painting was losing its popularity. He is thankful to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization cluster who came to their village to help in the upliftment of their art. They motivated him to continue block painting and promoted it to international level.

Sharing about his accomplishments, Rajkumar says he feels proud to be associated with the Ministry of Textiles where he got the chance to promote the art in South Africa, Switzerland and New York. He says he was also invited by the German embassy to showcase his art and train the artists. He had also taught IAS trainees in the LBSNAA Academy, Mussoorie about the block printing process. He was also conferred with national and state level awards including the Alankrit award for his piece of work. He had also trained women in self help groups to make them self employed.

When asked about his mistakes, Rajkumar says that trying to build his own workshop was a financial and mental stress for him. Nevertheless, he feels satisfied with his life and enjoys promoting and showcasing his art in the seminars organized in different parts of the country and abroad.

Talking about his role models, Rajkumar says he is thankful to Ajay Kumar Mehrotra, Assistant Director at the Handicrafts Development Corporation who taught him various techniques, and considers him his role model. He says people like Shankar Lal Dengai and B.B. Paul from Bunkar Seva Kendra had been helping the artists grow in their fields and he feels inspired by them.

Rajkumar’s advice for budding artists is that staying focussed is the most important ingredient for learning and developing the art and pouring our emotions into our work will surely add to its worthiness and lure the people towards your work.