Kalamkari cotton shirt

Kalamkari is a type of hand-painted or block printed textile by means of wooden pen or carved wooden blocks. It is largely produced in the Deccan region of India involving various steps of dyeing and printing. Only vegetable or natural colors are used in dyeing technique of a kalamkari fabric. Earlier, only cotton fabric was used for making kalamkari patterns but in modern times, this art of fabric printing is practiced on different varieties of textiles like cotton, silk, linen etc.

Block Printing

Block Printing is a method of hand printing on textiles with inks. Printing designs onto fabric originated in China about 4,500 years ago. However, hand-blocked fabric reached its highest visual expression in the Indian subcontinent. Block printing is one of the oldest stamping methods in history and one of the best known in India. Indians possessed unparalleled expertise in the secrets of natural plant dyes, particularly with mordants (metallic salts that both create color and allow it to adhere to fabric).

In addition, a kind of mud resist-printing, called dabu, flourished in parts of Gujarat.  Thus, a series of combinations of mordant and resist stamping and dyeing enabled Indian printers to create uniquely complex designs. The creations of Indian artists reached around the world.  The designs adorned the palaces of South East Asian kings, the courts of Mughal emperors and even travelled to the far-flung capitals of  Western Europe.

Block Printing at Aartyz

Aartyz has a unique manufacturing approach, where craft person focuses on craft only. Furthermore, our trained experts pay special attention to  pre and post production of the fabrics and designs. We have  developed equipment and techniques which help us reduce wastage and re working. We have also created advanced infrastructure to get the optimum output from each skillset. This has increased the average earning of our crafts persons.

At Aartyz, we believe in learning and reinventing the art of hand block printing. Artists and designs from various parts of India such as Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat inspire us to make improvements in our designs and processes. We also take inspiration and ideas from different techniques to create new concepts.