Know All About Zardosi
We all have hears about zardosi work being prominent in embellished sarees and more often in lehengas, but did we ever spare a thought to think that what exactly is zardosi Well, zardosi is a work of embroidery which has been around since the Mughal era. This Persian form of embroidery gained ground in the neighbouring countries of India such as Pakistan and Bangladesh and later spread in India. The epithet zardosi comes from two words Zar and Dosi meaning gold and embroidery, respectively. Zardosi is such a type of embroidery which revolves only around metals and embellishments, hence the term metal embroidery. Zardosi involves making various kinds of intricate embroidery using gold and silver threads. sometimes, designers also make use of pearls and other kinds of stones to take the magnificence of zardosi further. Indians have been using zardosi embroidery since the Vedic times but this form of metal embroidery gained ground in the Mughal period during which it prospered for a while but the enthusiasm soon flickered down due to industrialization and dearth of patronage. Zardosi embroidery has been a favourite of royal families where they incorporated it in wall hangings and their royal attires. Since, zardosi involves the rich metal, gold, it was considered to be a symbol of status and wealth during the bygone era. Nowadays, craftsmen have started using copper and silver threads with gold polish instead of pure gold threads because of the gold being a rare metal now. Zardosi embroidery is now a regular feature in zardosi lehengas, sarees, purses, belts, shoes and handbags. Zardosigained importance during the reign of Aurangzeb who made the city of Lucknow the main center for zardosi artists to showcase their art and this helped the metal embroidery to spread across India. Although, the Nawabs were huge admirers of zardosi embroidery, yet, Lucknow remained the main centre. Recently all the articles featuring zardosi embroidery made in Lucknow and other areas, have
been accorded the Geographical Indication tags. Cities like Hyderabad, Kolkata, kashmir, Delhi, Bhopal and Varanasi, too have been not far behind in producing zardosi inspired textiles. Zardosi work from Lucknow and Delhi feature heavier and more ornate designs whereas their counterparts in Agra and Hyderabad focus on more minimalistic designs by keeping their patterns simple yet larger. The motifs in zardosi embroidery has been always inspired from nature and often flowers, birds, trees and animals feature in their patterns. The entire embroidery of zardosi can be broken down into four steps. firstly the chosen pattern is drawn with the help of needles creating holes on a tracing sheet. The traced paper is placed after that on a table which has the fabric below it. The tracing paper is then marked with the help of a cloth dipped in kerosene which causes the ink to bleed on the fabric. The embroidery is done upon that with the help of a wooden frame and an ari which is a small stick. Zardosi traditional wears has gained a huge popularity nowadays thanks to the Bollywood celebrities and also because zardosi entails a royal aura with a modern twist. You can shop for vintage zardosi lehengas and zardosi sarees at https://www.indiansilkhouseagencies.com