Handmade in India

Production Clusters
Lucknow district:
Lucknow:
Chauk
Daliganj
Barabanki district:
Barabanki
CHIKANKARI-EMBROIDERY OF LUCKNOW
CHIKANKARI IS SUBTLE embroidery,white
on white,in which minute and delicate stitches
stand out as tedxtural contrasts,shadows and
traceries.Some stitches are worked from the
back and some from the front.In a
unique,anokhi chikan,the stitches donot appear
at the back.
The fabric used is fine,and traditionally muslin.Chikan appears to have
been derived from the Persian word chikin or chakin,meaning cloth
wrought with needlework.It was originally a court craft having been
introduced by Mughal empress Noorjahan.There were chikankaars in the
courts of Kolkata,Delhi,Dhaka
(Bangladesh),Gaya,Varanasi,Allahabad,Rampur and Bhopal.In
Lucknow,the Nawabs of Avadh made the finely embroidered muslins a
prescribed requirement of the ceremonial court.A single piece of chikan
relies on many skilled craftsmen, designer, printer, embroiderer,
washerman. Traditionally, different artisan families practiced and
perfected one type of stitch and it would,therefore,often take between
three to four craftsmen to embroider a single garment.
Bakhiya ,herringbone stitch,done on the reverse of the
fabric,gives a shadow effect that became a dominant
feature of the craft in the 1980s.Traders flooded markets
with coarsely executed work and thoughtless design
diversification had eroded the sensibility of the
craft.The sensitive design intervention of organizations
such as Dastkar and SEWA, were crucial in
reintroducing finely crafted stitches such as
murri,phanda,eyelets and a variety of jaali.This has
improved the quality of craftsmanship and the
livelihoods of craftspersons.
Inset Fish motif with jaali
or pulled thread work in
the body.The fish motif
was used in art and
architecture after the
Nawabs adopted the
MAhi Murattib, the twin
fish, as their state
emblem.
1 White-on-white
embroidery traditionally
done on fine muslin uses
darning,stem,satin and
buttonhole stitches with
pulled thread work and
eyelets edged in
buttonhole or stem stitch.
The phanda stitch used on
the edge of ambia or
mango motifs creates an
embossed texture.
2 Block used for printing
the pattern before
embroidering.
3 Chikan
angarkha,garment stitched
from fine muslin and
embroidered with phanda
stitch and wrapped back
stitch,a revival of the
elegance and refinement
that was closely associated
with Nawabi Culture.
Products
Traditional:
Rumalshandkerchiefs
Skull caps
Angarkhas-long shirts
Contemporary:
Saris-draped cloth
Kurtas-tunics
Dupattas-stoles
Scarves
Drapes
Table linen
Tools
Fine metal needles
Scissors
Wooden block for
printing motifs
4 Detail of a large circular pattern with
the royal emblem of twin fish and floral
motifs using avariety of jaali work,
eyelets, murri, phanda, and satin stitch.
5 Buta with mange motifs intricately
rendered in bakhiya stitch, jaali work and
phanda stitch. Amiba, keri or mango
motifs are common to Benaras brocades,
block prints and Lucknow embroidery.
6 A mango motif with a variety of
embossed stitches.
7 A keri, mango motif, in taipchi stitch
with a row of openwork. Taipchi or
running stitch is the most elementary and
inexpensive of all chikan embroideries
and is used here to outline the motif.