Textiles · North India
Phulkari: The Flower Work of Punjab
Worked from the wrong side of coarse cotton with bright silk floss, Phulkari turned everyday cloth into a garden — and a bride's most personal inheritance.
Textiles
Saris, shawls, weaves and embroidery — cloth as history.
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Textiles · West India
Patola: The Double-Ikat Silk of Patan
In Patan, a handful of Salvi families still tie-dye silk thread by thread, months before a single shuttle is thrown, to weave a sari with no reverse side.
Textiles · North India
Pashmina: The Ring Shawl of Kashmir
Combed from goats that winter at 14,000 feet and spun by hand in Srinagar, a true pashmina shawl is so fine it can pass through a wedding ring.
Textiles · South India
Kanchipuram Silk: The Temple Sari
Woven in a temple town from three-ply mulberry silk and real gold zari, the Kanchipuram sari is South India's bridal cloth — and one of India's first GI-tagged crafts.
Textiles · South India
Kalamkari: Painting Epics on Cloth with a Bamboo Pen
In the temple town of Srikalahasti, artists still draw the Ramayana and Mahabharata freehand on cotton with a bamboo pen and dyes made from roots, bark and iron.
Textiles · East India
Jamdani: The Woven Air of Phulia
In Phulia, the weavers who crossed a border in 1947 still weave flowers into muslin, one thread at a time.
Textiles · North India
Chikankari: The Shadow Embroidery of Lucknow
White thread on white muslin, stitched so finely that the pattern shows as a shadow: Lucknow's chikankari is embroidery at its most delicate.
Textiles · Central India
Chanderi: The Sheer Silk of the Heartland
A feather-light silk-and-cotton weave from a small Madhya Pradesh town, so sheer it was once said to be woven air.
Textiles · West India
Bandhani: The Tie-Dyed Dots of Kutch
In Kutch, thousands of tiny hand-tied knots hold back the dye, and when they are finally opened, a pattern of dots blooms across the cloth.
Textiles · North India
Banarasi Silk: The Brocade of Varanasi
Woven with gold thread on pit looms in one of the world's oldest cities, the Banarasi sari is India's most celebrated brocade.
Textiles · East India
Baluchari: The Woven Epics of Bishnupur
A silk sari from Bishnupur whose pallu retells the Ramayana and the Mahabharata in woven thread.