The hand
Written in thread, by hand.
Every NAZMEVA piece is embroidered by hand, by karigars in Lucknow and the villages around it. Every close-up on this site is a photograph of the real piece, never a rendering.
On the frame
15 days
to three months
So much of what is sold as chikankari today is made in a hurry. NAZMEVA exists for the other kind: the kind that takes fifteen days, or three months, and is worth it.
A piece stays on the frame for as long as its detail asks. The more it holds, the longer it stays.
Mukaish, set one dot at a time.
Mehtaab · Moonlight
Beadwork, rose by rose.
Siyahi · Ink, the poet's ink
A flower at the neck, worked in four colours of thread.
Gulshan · A rose garden
What happens before she sees it.
01
The drawing
The motif is drawn and carved into wooden blocks.
02
The outline
The outline is block-printed onto the cloth in a colour that washes out.
03
The frame
The cloth goes onto the frame and is embroidered by hand, stitch by stitch.
04
The wash
The piece is washed to lift the printed outline, leaving only thread.
05
The finish
It is finished, pressed, checked and given its piece number.
A vocabulary of stitches.
Chikankari has more than thirty named stitches. These carry most of the work in this collection.
Tepchi
A long running stitch that draws stems and outlines.
Bakhiya
Shadow work, stitched from the reverse so the motif glows through fine cloth.
Murri
Rice-shaped knots that give petals their raised centre.
Phanda
Tiny knotted grains, often the heart of a flower.
Jaali
Threads teased apart to make an open lattice, with no fabric cut.
Mukaish
Flattened metal wire worked through the cloth as a dot of light.
The maker’s note
Crafted slowly, kept forever.
- Technique
- Hand-embroidered chikankari
- Made by
- Karigars in Lucknow and the villages around it
- On the frame
- Fifteen days to three months
- Piece no.
- One per garment, on the label and the page
Every piece carries one
The note travels with the garment: what it is, how it was made, and the number that is only its own.
In time, it will carry the name of the karigar who made it.
See the pieces