A land that made beautiful things for kings
Walk down Maniharon ka Rasta off Tripolia Bazaar today and you will still see lac bangles shaped over small charcoal fires, exactly where the king put them nearly three hundred years ago. Our grandparents still called the old city by the names of its trade lanes.
A city planned for crafts: when Sawai Jai Singh II laid out Jaipur in 1727, he invited craftsmen from across India and gave each trade its own lane, or rasta.
Lanes named for trades: the lane of the bangle-makers, the lane of the brass-workers, the lane of the jewellers.
- Jaipur founded
- 1727, by Sawai Jai Singh II
- Rasta
- A lane given to one trade
- Chhipa
- The community of printers
- How skills pass
- Parent to child, within a family
- Our rule
- Buy from makers, never commission shops
- Every court did the same: the Maharanas of Mewar kept painters for centuries, and the rulers of Bikaner kept the Usta family of gold-leaf artists.
- The temple's painters: the temple of Shrinathji at Nathdwara kept families painting the great cloths that hang behind the god.
- Village crafts grew from need: women embroidered dowries with mirrors to catch the desert light, potters made water pots that kept water cool through May, and printers stamped cotton for farmers' wives.
- Family knowledge: a printer is often a chhipa, of the community of printers, and his grandfather printed before him.
- Strength and fragility: the knowledge is deep, but when a son leaves for a job in the city, a line of work can end in one generation.
- Near misses: several crafts came close to vanishing in the twentieth century, and some survive because a handful of people refused to let them go.
- Your part: when you buy well, you help keep them alive.
Block printing, from the carved block to the river
On the trade routes: block printing came to Rajasthan along the routes that carried its merchants, and for centuries it clothed everyone from farmers to queens.
Nearly finished: cheap mill cloth and screen printing almost ended it.
- Bagru
- About an hour from Jaipur; earth colours
- Sanganer
- Fine florals on white
- Dabu
- Clay, lime and gum resist paste
- Anokhi Museum
- Amer; opened 2005
- Revival
- From the 1970s
- How it survived: Bagru and Sanganer kept printing for local wear, and from the 1970s a handful of Jaipur designers and textile houses commissioned the old families again.
- Today: the best printers work for fashion houses across the world, and still print the village skirts their grandmothers wore.
- Our favourite start: a morning with a printing family, where you see the whole chain in one courtyard, from block and dye to printing table, drying field and washing tank.
- Your own cloth: you print it, and the family finishes it and sends it to your hotel. You leave knowing why a hand-printed tablecloth costs what it does.
The block carver
The wood: a block of hardwood, usually teak, cut with a set of fine chisels.
The cut: he traces the design, then cuts away everything that should not print, leaving the pattern raised.
- Several blocks: one design may need one for the outline and one for each colour, cut so precisely that they register without a gap. A complex block can take days.
- Air holes: small holes drilled through the wood let air escape so the dye prints evenly.
- Ten minutes: watch a carver that long and you will never look at a printed cushion the same way.
The printing table
The setup: a long padded table, with a tray of dye beside it.
- The motion: press the block into the dye, place it on the cloth, strike the back with the heel of the hand, move on, judging each placement by eye.
- The rhythm: a soft thump every few seconds. A good printer covers metres of cloth in an hour without a single misaligned edge.
- Your turn: then he hands you the block. Your first attempts will be crooked, and the family will laugh kindly.
Bagru, earth colours and mud resist
Where: about an hour from Jaipur.
The look: earthy prints in indigo, black and red on a cream or yellowish ground.
- Dabu: a resist paste of clay, lime and gum pressed onto the cloth before dyeing, so covered areas stay pale in the indigo vat.
- The cycle: washed, dried in the sun on open ground and printed again. On a bright morning the whole village is laid out in long strips of colour.
- Our morning there: described on our page on block printing in Bagru.
Sanganer, fine florals on white
The look: delicate florals and fine lines printed on white, the prints of the Jaipur courts and later of the fashion houses.
- Handmade paper: Sanganer also makes it, from cotton rag.
- See both in a day: Bagru and Sanganer side by side are the best lesson in how two families of printers can develop completely different styles a few kilometres apart.
Ajrakh and dabu beyond Jaipur
Ajrakh: in the far west, Khatri families in Barmer, and across the border in Kutch, print this resist cloth in deep red and indigo, with intricate geometry, often on both sides.
- Akola: in the villages near Chittorgarh, printers practise their own dabu in indigo and earthy colours.
- Like accents: each region's prints are as recognisable to a Rajasthani as a regional accent.
Start at the museum
The Anokhi Museum of Hand Printing: in a restored sixteenth-century haveli at Amer.
- The building: its careful restoration won a UNESCO conservation award in 2000, and the museum opened in 2005.
- Inside: cool rooms explain the whole craft, with old textiles, tools and a display on ajrakh, and a carver and a printer usually work in the courtyard.
- Go first: an hour here before Bagru and you will understand what you are watching there.
Tie-dye, weaving and the needle
- Bandhani
- Tie-dye in thousands of tiny dots
- Leheriya
- Diagonal waves, worn at Teej
- Kota Doria
- Fine check from Kaithoon; GI tag
- Durries
- Flat rugs from Salawas
- Safa
- The Marwari turban
Bandhani and leheriya
Bandhani: tie-dye in which thousands of tiny knots are pinched into the cloth before dyeing, each one leaving a dot.
- In Jodhpur: in the bazaars around the clock tower, women still pinch cloth into dots with a fingernail grown long for the purpose.
- Leheriya: the wave, rolled and tied diagonally to make the stripes of the monsoon, and worn above all at Teej.
- Spot the real thing: hand-tied cloth has slightly raised points and irregular dots, and printed copies are flat. Our page on leheriya and bandhani explains more.
Kota Doria, the gossamer check
Where: Kaithoon, near Kota.
- The cloth: gossamer cotton, sometimes mixed with silk, woven in a fine square check on pit looms.
- The sari for heat: the one a Rajasthani woman reaches for, and it carries a Geographical Indication tag.
- Buy at the source: ask to see a loom at work and buy from the weavers or their cooperatives. Our journal explains how to tell hand-woven Kota Doria from power-loom copies.
The embroidery and appliqué of Barmer
A great centre: the villages around Barmer are among the great embroidery and appliqué centres of India.
- Who makes it: women of the Meghwal, Rabari and other communities, each with their own motifs.
- The work: mirrors, chain stitch and cut-cloth appliqué on skirts, veils, quilts and dowry bags.
- Meet the makers: we would rather take you to the women, in their villages or through the groups they work with, than to a showroom in Jaisalmer.
Durries of Salawas and the Jaipur rugs
Salawas: half an hour south of Jodhpur, the village weaves durries, flat cotton and wool rugs, on pit looms in family courtyards.
- Jaipur: a long tradition of hand-knotted carpets.
- Before you buy: our journal on how to buy a rug explains knots, wool and fair prices.
Turbans, mojaris and quilts
The safa: several metres of tie-dyed cloth, wound in a style that tells you the wearer's region and occasion. Our turban-tying session teaches you to wind one.
Mojaris: embroidered leather slippers.
- Razai: Jaipur's famously light quilts.
- Bandhgala: Jodhpur's jackets, made by good tailors in a few days.
- Where to find the best: our textile shopping guide.
Clay, stone, lac and gold
- Blue pottery
- Quartz paste, not clay
- Gem cutting
- Jaipur, especially emeralds
- Makrana marble
- Quarried for the Taj Mahal
- Molela
- Terracotta votive plaques
- Usta
- Gold leaf on camel hide, Bikaner
Blue pottery of Jaipur
Not clay: it is made from a paste of quartz, painted in cobalt blue and turquoise with flowers, birds and arabesques.
Roots: in Persian glazed ware.
- The revival: it nearly died out in the twentieth century and survives largely because the artist Kripal Singh Shekhawat and others revived it.
- Our visit: a working studio where you watch pieces shaped, painted and fired, and try a brush yourself.
- Choose well: our blue pottery buying guide helps.
Gems, meenakari and kundan
A world centre: Jaipur is one of the great centres for cutting coloured gemstones, especially emeralds. The trade lives in Johari Bazaar and the lanes behind it.
Meenakari: fusing bright enamel onto gold and silver, rooted in the city's royal workshops.
- Kundan: setting stones in pure gold foil.
- Who we visit: family jewellers we have known for decades, never the commission showrooms drivers are paid to visit.
- Read first: our gem shopping tips.
Lac bangles of Maniharon ka Rasta
The lane: off Tripolia Bazaar.
- The craft: families heat sticks of lac over charcoal, roll them into bangles and press glass and stones in while the lac is warm.
- Made to your wrist: a set made while you watch is one of the most charming small purchases in Jaipur.
- Their meaning: bangles carry deep meaning for married women in Rajasthan.
Marble of Makrana and the terracotta of Molela
Makrana: a few hours west of Jaipur, its white marble was quarried for the Taj Mahal, and carvers still work it today.
- Quarry to inlay: our page on marble craft follows the stone.
- Molela: near Nathdwara, potters shape clay from the Banas into votive plaques of gods and folk heroes for village shrines.
- A small morning: watching a plaque take shape in a potter's courtyard is one of our favourites in Mewar.
Usta gold on camel hide, and the kavad of Bassi
Usta art: in Bikaner, artists named after the family who worked for the court paint raised gold-leaf designs on camel-hide lamps and bottles, and on palace walls.
- The kavad: in Bassi near Chittorgarh, carpenters make painted wooden shrines with many folding doors.
- How it is used: a storyteller opens the doors one by one as he tells a story from the epics.
- Worth a detour: both are crafts of a very particular place.
The painters of the courts and the temples
Court schools: miniature painting grew up in the Rajput courts, and each court had its own style.
Mewar: early painting is bold and flat, in saturated reds and yellows.
Bundi: its painters loved monsoon clouds, lotus ponds and women with round faces.
- Miniatures
- A school for each court
- Bani Thani
- Kishangarh; on a 1973 stamp
- Pichwai
- Nathdwara, Chitron ki Gali
- Phad
- Bhilwara and Shahpura
- Materials
- Mineral and plant pigments, squirrel-hair brushes
- Kishangarh: it produced the elongated, almond-eyed Radha, whose most famous image, Bani Thani, appeared on an Indian stamp in 1973.
- The old way: many studios in Udaipur and Bundi still use mineral and plant pigments, squirrel-hair brushes and burnished paper or silk.
- Weeks on one work: the best painters spend that long on a single small painting, and will let you try a line yourself. Our miniature painting page explains what to look for.
- Pichwai: at Nathdwara, the painters of Chitron ki Gali, the street of paintings, make the great cloths that hang behind Shrinathji.
- Changing with the seasons: lotus ponds in summer, moonlit dances at Sharad Purnima, herds of cows with patterned flanks.
- Real or printed: printed copies are everywhere, so we take you to working studios to buy directly. Read about pichwai painting.
- The phad: painted for the bhopas, the bards who unroll a long cloth and sing the epic of Pabuji or Devnarayan through the night by lamplight.
- Where it is painted: the tradition is associated with families in Bhilwara and Shahpura. Our journal tells the story of the bhopa and the phad.
Where and how we arrange craft mornings
Jaipur and its villages
The richest craft city in India: in a few days we can take you to a printing family in Bagru and the printers and paper-makers of Sanganer.
- In the city: a blue pottery studio, a gem cutter's workshop, the bangle-makers of Maniharon ka Rasta and the Anokhi Museum at Amer.
- How the trades are arranged: our Jaipur guide and the bazaars of Jaipur explain it.
Udaipur and Nathdwara
In the old city: painters' studios around the Jagdish temple.
- An hour north: the pichwai painters of Nathdwara, and the potters of Molela.
- In December: the crafts fair at Shilpgram. Our Udaipur guide has more.
Jodhpur and the Bishnoi villages
In the old city: bandhani tiers and a turban master.
- In the countryside: the durrie weavers of Salawas and the potters of the Bishnoi villages, who make water pots that keep drinking water cool through summer.
- One morning: we combine them. Read our Jodhpur guide.
Bundi and Kota
Bundi painters: a few serious ones still work in the Bundi style, and our guides know which are artists rather than souvenir sellers.
- Forty minutes away: the Kota Doria weavers of Kaithoon at their pit looms.
- Details: our Bundi guide.
Buying well, and paying fairly
Our rule: guides and chauffeurs are paid properly by us and never earn commission from shops. That single rule changes everything about how you shop.
Pay the maker: we take you to the people who make things, and you pay them directly, at a fair price they set.
What it costs: sometimes a little more than a showroom asks for a copy, and often less than a showroom asks for the real thing.
- Commission
- None for our guides or chauffeurs
- Bargaining
- In bazaars, not in workshops
- Shipping
- We help arrange packing you can trust
- Antique doors
- Please don't buy them
- Hand block print: tiny irregularities where the blocks meet, and colour that soaks through to the back. Screen prints look perfect and sit on the surface.
- Real bandhani: raised points where the knots were.
- Hand-woven Kota Doria: small irregularities in the check.
- Genuine blue pottery: light and slightly uneven.
- Hand-painted pichwai: brushwork shows under a lens.
- Read more: our block print buying guide, Rajasthani jewellery guide and wider shopping guide.
- Bargaining: normal in the bazaars and inappropriate in a craftsman's home. If a workshop price is beyond you, say so kindly and buy something smaller.
- Shipping: many families will ship larger pieces, and we can help arrange packing and shipping you can trust.
- No antique doors: many carved doors, brackets and painted panels are stripped from abandoned havelis.
- How we choose: our page on the artisans we work with explains how we choose the workshops we visit.
When to come for crafts
October to March: dry skies, so cloth dries quickly and the printers work at full pace. The drying fields of Bagru are at their most beautiful on a bright winter morning.
December: the crafts fair at Shilpgram in Udaipur brings makers from across western India.
- Best months
- October to March
- Shilpgram fair
- December, Udaipur
- Leheriya season
- The monsoon, July to September
- Wedding season
- November to February
- Hot months
- April to June; mornings only
- February and March: lovely for long village days.
- April to June: the heat slows everything, so we plan workshop visits for early morning.
- The monsoon, July to September: the season of leheriya and Teej, when bazaars fill with wave-dyed saris and turbans, and of ghevar in the sweet shops.
- Monsoon trade-off: printing slows when cloth cannot dry, and some villages are muddy, but the colours of the season are worth it.
- Wedding season: November to February keeps the jewellers, tailors and turban-makers busiest.
- What is worn when: our guide to Rajasthani dress and textiles explains.
Who will love a craft morning
Designers and makers: textile collectors and anyone who sews, paints or makes things will want days, not hours.
A journey for them: our textile and craft trail runs from the printing tables of Jaipur to the looms of Kota and the dyers of Jodhpur.
- Families with children: they love the hands-on mornings, printing a cloth in Bagru, painting a tile, having bangles made to fit.
- Couples: they enjoy the quieter studios, a painter's workshop in Udaipur or a pichwai studio in Nathdwara.
- Travellers who care where money goes: they find these mornings the most satisfying of the journey.
- If you dislike shopping: a craft visit is not a shopping trip, and nobody minds if you buy nothing. Watching a block carver for an hour is as close to watching a sculptor as most of us get.
- Short of time: one morning in Bagru and one hour at the Anokhi Museum give you the heart of it.
Visiting a workshop well
Ask before photographing: people at work, especially women embroidering or tying bandhani. Most say yes when asked.
Hands off: don't touch wet cloth, dye vats or blocks without being invited. Dyes stain and blocks are precious.
- Photographs
- Ask first
- Dye and blocks
- Don't touch unless invited
- Price
- Pay what the maker asks
- Children
- No money or sweets
- Follow the family: take your shoes off if they do, and accept tea if it is offered. It is part of the visit.
- In a workshop: pay the price the maker asks, or explain kindly that it is beyond you. Bargain only in the bazaar.
- Children: never hand out money or sweets in craft villages. Ask us about the schools and projects our guests support instead.
- Dress for dye: wear clothes you don't mind marking at a printing morning.
- Touts: say no, politely, to anyone offering a free visit to a cooperative or a factory price at a cousin's shop. Our guides take no commission.