The Zardosi style, which is often used to add a royal touch to fabric, is one of the finest embroidery techniques. Zardosi is a technique... Read More
The Zardosi style, which is often used to add a royal touch to fabric, is one of the finest embroidery techniques. Zardosi is a technique for creating beautiful, intricate designs on cloth using metallic coated thread. Thin strands of gold, silver, or copper are typically used to make the thread. To create these intricate designs, the thread is held with a finger on the reverse of the fabric and the aari, a sharp-pointed needle, is held on top. Sewing on the fabric in intricate patterns, craftsmen use materials such as sequins, beads, pearls, precious and semi-precious stones. This exquisite embroidery style is now commonly used in bridal trousseaus
Zardozi originated in Iran and was brought to India b
y the Mughals. It is different from other embroidery techniques in a few ways:
Materials: Zardozi embroidery uses a combination of gold and silver thread, sometimes interwoven with silk or other colorful threads. This gives the embroidery a very rich and luxurious look, which is different from other embroidery techniques that use single-colored thread.
Techniques: Zardozi embroidery uses a combination of techniques such as couching, applique, and chain stitch. This creates a raised and three-dimensional effect on the fabric which is different from other embroidery techniques that are typically done in a flat manner.
Designs: The designs used in Zardozi embroidery are often very ornate and elaborate, with a strong influence from Persian and Mughal art. They often depict floral and paisley patterns, as well as figurative designs such as birds and animals, which is different from other embroidery techniques that typically use simpler patterns.
Applications: Zardozi embroidery is mainly used for decorating traditional Indian garments such as saris, lehengas, and sherwanis, as well as household items such as cushion covers and table runners.
Expensive: Due to the use of gold and silver thread, and the intricate designs, Zardozi embroidery is considered as a luxury item and is relatively expensive compared to other embroidery techniques.
Show Less
Zardozi is a form of metal-thread embroidery most famous in the state of Lucknow. It is also practiced in parts of Farrukhabad, Chennai, and Bhopal It is a fine technique of embroidery which is used to add a touch of royalty to the fabric
The embroidery originated in Persia and it translates to ‘zar’ which means gold and ‘dozi’ meaning embroidery.
Even though the Zardozi as we know it today has Persian roots, silver and gold thread weaving was also done in ancient India. According to some historians, the Hiranya, or the sacred gold cloth, is the present-day equivalent of the zari embroidery. The 6th-century Acharanga Sutra, sacred Jain literature mentions that gold-embroidered clothes should not be used by the monks. Marco Polo in the 13th century writes about the fabrics ‘skillfully embroidered with gold and silver wire’ from the Tamil-Pandya kingdom.
The motifs are majorly based on nature, such as leaves, flowers, fruits, animals, and birds. One of the most common motifs is the mango, or kairi. Also common are geometrical patterns, jalis, paisleys inspired from the Persian designs.
The required design is traced on a fabric. Usually, silk, organza, velvet, or satin is used for this process. The entire design is poked with a needle and then outlined. It is followed by fixing the fabric on the adda so that the fabric does not move. This requires the artists to keep the tools, needles, curved hooks, wires, threads, sequins, gems, beads at hand’s reach.
The zari for zardozi is made by flattening the gold and silver into wires called ‘badla’. It is then wrapped around silk threads. The resulting gold thread is also called sunehri, while the silver thread is called rupehri.
Zardozi traditionally uses threads made of gold, silver, or copper. The thread is held at the reverse side of the fabric, while the aari (needle) is held at the top. Along with the metallic threads, the craftsmen also use beads, pearls, sequins, precious and semi-precious stones to make intricate designs.
