Knowledge Centre
Everything we know, written down.
One question, one page, revised whenever we learn something better. The encyclopedia entries below are the same taxonomy the shop runs on — so what you read and what you can filter by never drift apart.
Traditions, by name and by place.
Brocade weaving in which a supplementary zari weft is carried across the ground cloth to…
Mulberry silk in which body and border are woven separately and interlocked at the join.
A discontinuous supplementary weft placed by hand, thread by thread, as the cloth is…
A sheer, lightly glossy cloth traditionally woven with a silk warp and a cotton weft.
A light silk-cotton from the Narmada, usually with a reversible border.
Tapestry technique in the border and pallu, worked without a supplementary weft carried…
Double ikat: both warp and weft are resist-dyed to the finished pattern before a single…
The everyday handwoven cotton of Bengal — crisp, light and made to be washed.
Odisha ikat, in which the yarn is tied and dyed before weaving.
An open square-check ground woven from alternating cotton and silk yarn.
What the yarn actually is.
Degummed, twisted mulberry silk in both warp and weft.
Silk reeled from Bombyx mori cocoons — the standard fine silk of Indian weaving.
A wild silk with a naturally uneven filament and a warm gold cast.
A silk warp with a cotton weft, or a blended yarn.
Cotton woven on a handloom.
Flax fibre, usually in a fine count for sarees.
A sheer, plain-weave silk stiffened by tightly twisted yarn.
A sheer cloth woven with a metallic or zari weft.
A crinkled crepe cloth in silk or filament yarn.
Hand-spun and handwoven cloth.
How the ornament got there.
An extra weft thread, usually metallic, woven in to form the motif.
Coloured weft turned back within its own area of the design, leaving no float behind.
Yarn tied and dyed to the pattern before weaving. Single ikat dyes one set of yarn;…
Pattern printed with carved wooden blocks after weaving.
Drawn and painted by hand with a pen — distinct from block-printed cloth sold under the…
White-on-white hand embroidery from Lucknow. An embroidery, not a weave.
Running-stitch hand embroidery from Bengal.
Cloth tied in thousands of small points and dyed.
Pattern printed by machine onto finished cloth.
Where it was made.
Varanasi and its brocade workshops.
Kanchipuram silk, and the temple towns around it.
Tant, jamdani and kantha across Nadia, Hooghly and Birbhum.
Chanderi and Maheshwar.
Paithani at Paithan and Yeola.
Patan patola, bandhani and ajrakh printing.
Sambalpuri and Bomkai ikat traditions.
Ilkal and Molakalmuru silk.
Kota doria and leheriya.
Bhagalpur tussar and linen.
Uppada, Venkatagiri and Mangalagiri.
Pochampally ikat and Gadwal.