Tales Below the Heels" – National Seminar and Exhibition on India's Footwear Heritage Inaugurated in Hyderabad
Hyderabad: The inaugural ceremony of "Tales Below the Heels" a three-day National Seminar and Exhibition on the Footwear Heritage of India was successfully held on Friday at the Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI) campus in Hyderabad.
The event brought together scholars, designers, students, artisans and heritage enthusiasts to celebrate India's rich footwear traditions in an academic yet immersive setting.
The programme commenced with a formal welcome to the Chief Guest Telangana Governor Jishnu Dev Varma inaugurated the seminar and exhibition. The Governor commended the organisers for the exceptional curation of the exhibition, describing it as "well thought-out and beautifully presented." He praised the initiative as an "out-of-the-box" approach to heritage documentation, noting how conventional scholarship has often focused on the iconography of sculptures and monuments while overlooking the very footwear these historical figures wore. "We study the posture, the ornaments, the symbolism of our sculptures, but we rarely pause to notice what lies below the heels," the Governor remarked. "This exhibition fills that gap and brings to light a dimension of our cultural heritage that has been hidden in plain sight."
Recognising the exhibition's potential to reach wider audiences, Jishnu Dev Varma strongly recommended that "Tales Below the Heels" be developed into a traveling exhibition, enabling people across the country to engage with India's footwear heritage and the stories embedded in these everyday yet extraordinary objects.
Senior representatives from Pleach India Foundation and FDDI Hyderabad also addressed the gathering, underlining how footwear, ranging from sacred padukas to regional juttis and Kolhapuris embodies regional artistry, identity and ritual value, and continues to influence global design conversations. The Governor highlighted the importance of connecting India's design legacy with contemporary innovation and youth engagement, particularly in the context of preserving traditional craftsmanship while inspiring future design thinking.
Over the next three days, the seminar will feature paper presentations by researchers and practitioners, special lectures by invited experts and interactive sessions that explore Indian footwear through lenses of history, design, craft, sustainability and community practice.
"Tales Below the Heels" reaffirms Pleach India Foundation's mandate of "Connecting to the Roots" and FDDI Hyderabad's commitment to combining design education with cultural literacy, positioning Indian footwear heritage as a vital resource for future-facing design thinking.
