The craft
The hands behind every piece we sell.
Every garment on Aratrikkaz is the work of named crafts and named clusters. Below: the techniques we work with most, what they are, where they come from, and what they take to make.
Lucknow + Hyderabad · Uttar Pradesh · Telangana
Zardozi
Gold and silver thread, laid by hand, one stitch at a time. The embroidery of Mughal court dress.
Zardozi means 'sewing with gold' in Persian. The craft arrived in India with the Mughal court in the 16th century and never left — adapting, deepening, becoming the language of ceremonial dress across the subcontinent.
Learn more about Zardozi →Lucknow · Uttar Pradesh
Chikankari
White-on-white hand embroidery so fine it appears to be the fabric itself. The signature of Lucknow.
Chikankari is the world's gentlest embroidery. White cotton or muslin, white thread, six different stitches — bakhiya, hool, ghaas patti, jaali, keel kangan, phanda — each catching the light differently. The result reads as texture, not decoration.
Learn more about Chikankari →Banaras · Uttar Pradesh
Banarasi Zari
Real silver-gilt thread, woven into silk on the Naqshbandi handlooms of Banaras for over 500 years.
A Banarasi saree begins as a drawing — a naksha — etched into card by a master designer. The pattern is then translated to the loom in jacquard cards, and the weaver works for days, sometimes weeks, depending on the density of the zari motif.
Learn more about Banarasi Zari →Kutch · Gujarat
Bandhani
Tie-and-dye, by finger-tied knots, by the Khatri community of Kutch. Every dot is one knot.
Bandhani is mathematics turned into colour. The cloth is tied with thousands of tiny knots — each knot creates one undyed dot — before being dipped in dye. A complex bandhani pattern can take ten people days to tie.
Learn more about Bandhani →Jaipur + Kashmir · Rajasthan · J&K
Aari
Hook-work embroidery — fast, fine, structural. The architecture under most heavy hand-embroidery.
Aari uses a fine crochet-like hook to draw thread up through the fabric in a continuous chain stitch. It is the foundation craft under most heavily embellished Indian wear — zardozi sequences, mirror work attachments, resham detailing — all start with an aari outline.
Learn more about Aari →Jaipur · Rajasthan
Gota Patti
Flat metallic ribbon, hand-laid into floral and paisley motifs. The festive shorthand of Rajasthan.
Gota patti uses flat gold or silver ribbon — historically real, now usually metallic synthetic — folded and cut into petal and leaf shapes, then appliquéd onto the fabric. It is fast compared to zardozi, lighter in feel, and signature to Rajasthani festive wear.
Learn more about Gota Patti →