Back To The Roots Of Jawaharlal Nehru

On 15th March,2017, I returned to college after Holi Break and got to know that we have been given an assignment to the designated groups to do a research to the allocated places.
we shall be visiting the selected environment and collecting primary, secondary and tertiary data. 

Our Group selected Teen Murti Bhavan as the  Selected Environment for research.

So, Next day we decided to visit Teen Murti Bhavan.

This grand establishment was once the residence of India’s First Prime Minister Sri. Jawaharlal Nehru. Built in 1930 by a famous British architect Robert Tor Russell, this building is located near the very popular Teen Murti Marg in central Delhi.

Named after the Teen Murti Memorial, built by British Sculptor Leonard Jennings the life-size statues consist of three soldiers bearing flags of their native.

The building now houses several offices, making it one of the biggest complexes in the city. The building houses the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund along with several other mementos from several nations such as England, China and Nepal among others.

Apart from being a complex, the Nehru Planetarium, which opened in 1984 is located around this magnificent building.

We will continue our quest, till then keep exploring

Chikankari Work at a Glance

Chikankari Embroidery is fascinating our eyes through ages but have you ever thought, What are the steps taken to make a chikankari embroidered masterpiece.

Chikankari is a fine artwork done by expert artisans in which the 5 essential steps are as follows:

1. Design
2. Engraving
3. Block printing
4. Embroidery
5. Washing and finishing                

Design 

A design is conceptualized the designers for the complete piece viz a saree, a top . a sherwani etc. At the time of deciding the design various motifs and their placements are finalized, to get that complete effect on the final apparel.

Engraving

These design patterns is then engraved on a wooden block or at times sketching it manually. There are thousands of pre made blocks/ motifs already available and the new ones are designed from time to time to meet the new fashion demands.

Block Printing
Once the block is ready then the printing is done on the fabric. Printing is carried out by the use of wooden blocks dipped in dyes like neel and safeda to make a pattern.

Embroidery
The printed fabric then reaches the craftsmen who get to work with the cloth stretched by a wooden frame. They do the enriching embroidery using a variety of stitches. These stitches are done on the same pattern which are engraved on the fabric by block printing.

Washing and finishing

After the embroidery, the fabric reaches the laundry and is thoroughly washed and given the finishing touches. This includes bleaching, acid treatment, stiffening or starching and ironing. 

Here's The Life Of Chikankari Artisans

Sitting in a room and playing videogames during winter vacation , I've received an Email from my college course leader that I have to do research on different art and craft, design movements, tribal and folk art. 

Hola! I am Mohit Ranjan and I am here to take you through my journey of a college assignment. 

I have always loved to learn and know about new stuffs around the world. 

When I received the mail from my course leader, I was so excited to explore and know about things.

I told my parents that I got assignment and they suggested me that it would be better if i do research about my city art and craft and its culture. 

So, the journey started next day! I got an idea to visit the older part of lucknow to know about Chikankari. Nazrana chikan shop has been famous from decades in lucknow, So i talked to the owner of Nazrana chikan and he was ready to show his factories where the chikankari work is done. 

He told me about all the process of getting a chikankari garment, but i was not satisfied with this this much of knowledge about it and asked an artisan that where is chikankari work done in nearby villages ? and he gave me the address.

Second day! I visited a village called Mizwan Village , according to the address given by artisan. 

There i found that mostly chikankari embroidery work is done by women only.

So, I met a lady whose name was Tabassum, She was married at the age of 16 and had gone through a lot. She never went to school, was pushed into early marriage and then had to go through the heartbreak of a broken relationship, all in her teens. That’s when she decided to take up chikankari with the intention of supporting herself. She mastered the art craft under the guidance of notable tutors. However, earning a decent living through chikankari seemed like a distant dream.

Tabassum told me that mostly women from muslim community practice chikankari embroidery to support themselves, who makes only 2500-3000 rs per month. 

Tabassum told me about a man who transformed the lives of all the artisans, it was jaspal karla , a professor of fashion design , is the founder of Sangraha Kala Foundation.  The organization not only conducts a four-month training programme in design for chikankari artisans, but also connects them with prospective buyers through an online platform, thereby making entrepreneurs out of them. Their sole motive is to bring about positive changes in the socio-economic conditions of these artisans.

So, at last i realized that social reformers like jaspal karla is very important for our society and we should inspire from people like him. 

At last a quote from shaukat tangewala came in my mind that "लखनऊ ही एक ऐसा अनोखा शहर है जहां चिकन खाया भी जाता है पहना भी".

Types of Chikankari Embroidery used to make a Garment

I am trying to know more about chikankari.

hola! People. I was searching about the types of stitches used in Chikankari.

Types Of Chikankari Stitches 

Flat                                                                    Embossed                                                  Jaalis

•Flat stitches –these are delicate and subtle and lie close to the surface of the fabric giving it a very distinctive textural appearance.
•Embossed stitches –these stitches are highlighted from the fabric surface lending it a characteristic grainy texture.
•Jaali work –this is the most striking feature of ‘chikan’ embroidery, and creates a delicate net effect. The fabric is broken into holes by teasing the warp and weft yarns and holding them in position using small stitches.

The main Flat Stitch

•Taipchi -this is a running stitch done on the right side of the fabric. It is done in parallel rows to fill the leaves and petals in a motif called ghaspatti. Sometimes taipchi is also used to make the bel buti design all over the fabric. This is the simplest Chikan stitch and is also considered the cheapest and quickest to do.

The main Embossed Stitch

Murri -this is a very minute stitch in which a knot is made over taipchi stitches. The murri stitch when elongated is called nukilimurri. And when it is used to fill a blunt edged form it is called mundi murri.

The main Jaalis Stitch 

Madrasi jaali –this is a series of small holes, square in shape, alternating with closed areas.

There are total 32 number of stitches in chikankari embroidery, in which 15 stitches are most commonly used-

• Zanzeera
• Rahet
• Banarsi
• Khatau
• Phanda''
• Murri 
• Jali 
• Turpai
• Darzdari
• Pechani
• Bijli
• Ghaspatti
• Makra
• Kauri
• Hathkadi

So, now as we know about the types of stitches used in chikankari, Next time we will research about the Design and Motifs used in Chikankari Embroidery. 

We will continue our quest, till then keep exploring

Designs and motifs used in Chikankari!

Hola! People. I was searching about the design and motifs used in chikankari embroidery, let's get started.

The source of most of the design motifs is Mughal since that is where the craft originated. The styles of motifs whether they are kurtas, saris or angarkhas had a very distinct quality that closely relate to Mughal motifs. Common elements can be seen in places such as the in the ornamentation of the Taj Mahal and Fatehpur Sikri.

The designs in Chikan are named and used according to the stitches employed like murri ka buta, though there are other terms also like haathi (elephant), keri(mango) to signify shapes or motifs predominantly used. Some of the most commonly used designs or motifs are bel (creeper). This is generally in straight lines, between two invisible parallels and is seen around cuffs and hems of garments as also along the button flaps. Butis of animals or flowers or mahi(fish) are also strong elements in the designs of Chikankari. These forms are used in assortment in simple geometrical grids.

There was also a tradition to embroider verses of the Quran in prayer caps or on angarkha borders.

My Color Board

Art of being in a design college is that you learn a new thing almost everyday. People think that design colleges are all about basic drawing and sketching practices. To be honest, in the past 6 months, I have done 0 sketching. Not because I didn’t want to but because we were never asked to! Instead we were told about so many different things.

I mean, before joining the college, I had no clue about what pixelation was, whats paper layering and how to create an entire scene through it? whats stylisation? whats simplification? (not the one in maths) It was a new chapter everyday, and unlike schools, there wasn’t any fixed syllabus, you could go to any extent.

So it was very recently that the concept of boards was introduced to us. We had to create three boards, i.e, material board, color board and mood board. I was, firstly, excited to learn and try them out, but then i got a little confused about how to  go on with my board.

So, basically whats a mood board? Well my understanding of it is that its a composition of elements that are closely related to what the board is about. My board is on chiknkari so every element on my board is actually a part of, or related to my craft.

So this is what I came up with.

Trust me "CHIKANKARI" is not an easy task!

 So yesterday I thought of making some chikankari sample myself. So I borrowed my mom’s embroidery frame and some anchor threads. She has a old rustic round box where she keeps all the “not-so-useful” stuff related to embroidery. Luckily she didn’t throw all of it and now its coming of use to me. Sounds strange but ya.  So I grabbed a basic chikan pattern from internet and tried to replicate the same.

So I tried……and I tried….and concluded that Chikankari is not easy! Its been almost a day and I haven’t been able to complete it.

So what’s my experience? Well at first it was really exciting because its something really new and unique that I was gonna do. There’s actually a rhythm that one has to follow while doing chikan work. If the needle is put at a wrong place it can spoil the beauty of the entire stitch, so it really requires your utmost concentration and focus. It also takes a lot of time. I mean, you see the flower? It actually took me a whole span of 30 mins to complete it. It’s definitely tiring but the final outcome is so pretty!

A big salute to all the chikankari workers to make an entire garment!

I’m almost halfway through the design and it was fun, I really enjoyed doing it and looking forward to completing it. Will surely post when I’m done with it.

When Chikankari wowed Hollywood!

Nur Jehan who is popularly believed to have
introduced Chikankari in India

There are references to the Indian Chikankari work as early as 3rd Century BC by Meghasthenes (he was an Indian ethnographer and explorer), who mentioned the use of flower muslins by Indians. Many historians believe that there were travelers who taught chikan to the peasants in return of water to drink. However, the most popular story is that Nur Jehan, the wife of Mughal emperor Jahangir, brought chikankari embroidery work with her from Persia and also taught the embroidery work to her servants. 

The technique of creation of a chikan work is known as chikankari. Chikan is a delicate and artfully done hand embroidery on a variety of textile fabric like muslin, silk, chiffon and net. White thread is embroidered on cool, pastel shades of light muslin and cotton garments. Nowadays chikan embroidery is also done with colored and silk threads in colors to meet the fashion trends and keep chikankari up-to-date. Lucknow is the heart of the chikankari industry today and the variety is known as Lucknawi chikan.
Chikan embroidery is mostly done on fabrics like cotton, semi-Georgette, pure Georgette, crepe, chiffon, silk and any other fabric which is light and which highlights the embroidery. The fabric cannot be too thick or hard, else the embroidery needle won't pierce it.

In today's day designers like AbuJani and Sandeep Khosla completely revived this timeless art form over a decade ago. They improvised chikankari  combined with mirror work, zardozi and several other art works infused a new life in it. From Dame Judi Dench to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan every other Hollywood and bollywood celebrities are flaunting chikan ensembles by Abu jani and Sandeep khosla on various international platforms and film festivals.

Lucknow Chikan worn by Dame Judi Dench At Academy Awards in 2006

Chikankari Embroidery

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them. Well, I am a living example of this quote. Unlike most of my peers, fabric and the various patterns always fascinated me. So when I decided to pursue Fashion Designing as a course, I had the world around me surprised, mocking and mostly against the idea. However, I took the plunge against the tide and here I am, a design student following my heart and enjoying every minute of my first year college life. The best part of my college is my technical inputs class in which we are taught stitching, pleats, etc. It is amazing how we can experiment with fabric and come up with beautiful and never-seen-before patterns.

Well, we got an assignment in our college in which we have to do research on different art and craft, design movements, tribal and folk art. To help us in the assignments our college took us for the trips to the Craft and Handloom Museum and Delhi Haat, where I saw and got to know about new things like Warli Paintings, Patachitra paintings, Russian dolls and I even saw fashion accessories made up of sea shells.

Well in all these topics the thing that took my attention was "Chikankari Embroidery", because I had enough knowledge to choose it but not enough to call myself well versed with this craft. As a fashion student, I would love to explore and try new things with chikankari as we are vanishing our traditional art and craft , why not to explore and try new things with our old traditional art and craft.

As I am from Lucknow and Lucknow is the main center of Chikankari, I would love to do experiments with it and will try to make it look funky as well as retain its classic look.

I have created this blog to help people to know about why our tradition is important to us and to share my journey experience of this module.

If Chikankari excites you like it does to me, please drop by and don't forget to share any tit bits you have about it. 

Chikankari Embroidery