§ The Atelier
Where the hours accumulate.
Four disciplines
The house practises four traditions. It refuses the rest.
N° I112 days
Zardozi
Metal-thread embroidery drawn from Mughal courts.
N° II84 days
Chikankari
Whitework tracery, thirty-two stitches inherited from Lucknow.
N° III68 days
Aari & Dabka
Hooked chain-stitch worked on the vertical frame.
N° IV42 days
Handloom
Silk and tissue woven on the pit loom, one metre at a dawn.
A day at the frame
Six hours, one motif. And on some days, none at all.
The frame is set at dawn. Thread is drawn to the exact tension of the humidity. When the light is wrong, the karigar does not force the work — he waits. A garment is finished when it is finished.
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