The Craft — Kalamkari

Kalamkari — from kalam (pen) and kari (work) — is the art of writing stories onto cloth with a bamboo pen and natural dyes. Every colour is grown, not mixed from a tin.

How a Kalamkari cloth is made

1. Prepare the cloth — softened in myrobalan and buffalo milk so the dyes bind and the whites stay clean.
2. Draw with the kalam — outlines drawn freehand with a bamboo pen dipped in fermented-iron black.
3. Dye in the vat — indigo blues, madder reds and turmeric yellows built up colour by colour, with wax resists between.
4. Wash & sun-fix — washed in flowing water and laid in the sun, which deepens and locks every shade.

The dye palette

• Neeli (Indigo) — our primary, from the indigo plant.
• Manjishtha (Madder) — the red of madder root.
• Haldi (Ochre) — the gold accent, from turmeric.
• Gaada (Cream) — the undyed canvas.
• Kalam (Ink) — line and text, from myrobalan and iron.

Honest craft — the word we refuse to misuse

Our Everyday and Signature pieces are Kalamkari-inspired — designed in the tradition and printed. Our Heirloom tier is the genuine article: hand-painted and block-printed by master artisans of Pedana, Machilipatnam and Srikalahasti, credited by name and fairly paid for the months a real piece takes.