We are concerned here more with connections than priorities, even though to trace the journeywork from functionality to aesthetic concerns still remains a challenging affair. After all, meaning or understanding meaning is a practical everyday necessity as it is an analytic concern for researchers. 'Researchers must share the meaning and conventions of their object domain in order to develop a second-order scientific interpretation...[which] may become constitutive of daily life'. [Alexander and Seidman, 1990] I share the life-world that I am studying, that of the communities of the Northeast of India. This region of the Seven Sisters, as it is popularly known, is further enriched now by the entry of Sikkim, a former kingdom within India. There is a veritable salad-bowl of communities here, in all of the constituent states of Assam, Arunachal, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Tripura. Specifically, the North East has experience of varied ethnic existences with community specific culture, tradition, custom, rituals, etc. I feel, there is enough scope to explore this area, to identify the common and specific features that can be used as elements in the context of contemporary design. Present day design based on specific elements like form, shape &size and colour
(fig 1) enact the graduation of the native artifacts that we had already referred to. The vitality of ethnic forms and their unabashed functionality can make room for the inherently aesthetic items of present day urbane décor.

Kula used in winnowing and the creel (Khaloi) (fig 2) to store the day's catch of fish are efficient in their function and had always been. However, even though no sophistication in technique and form is forthcoming. Its semantics, functions have changed and they are now part of an urban drawing room décor. From this trained dancer (fig 3) the stylized design lampshade is mass-produced, in the case of traditional Assamese implements or utility items the form, the material, the technique and the structure remain rigorously traditional but their functions and meanings are being radically transformed with a change of context. In their original context they still serve the traditional function.     

This itinerary is necessary not only for the native artifacts in that they may survive in an alien milieu but it can, equally adroitly, give a fresh lease of life to emaciated modern mass produced crafts which are often seen to adorn insensitive walls. However, the knowing elite often chooses right and traditional/ ritualistic items, which would not have survived otherwise, can exploit the unwarranted patronage and create its own private space.

Most of the original art, craft and artifacts representing NE culture are preserved in museum; some are still available in private antique collections. The rich tribal tradition is on the verge of extinction due to many influences of modern civilizations. Still its essence is alive in the works and practices of the contemporary life of the region.