Banarasi Zari

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.

Real zari is silver thread plated with gold. The silver wire is drawn until it is fine enough to wind around silk core thread, then woven into the fabric on the pallu and border. A heavy Banarasi pallu can carry kilograms of silver — heavier than its appearance suggests, and the reason a real Banarasi 'falls' with such gravity.

Aratrikkaz works with the Naqshbandi weaver cluster in Banaras whose family has been on the handloom for four generations. We do not stock power-loom Banarasi imitations. The price of a real Banarasi reflects what it actually takes to make it.