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Luxury handicrafts · 04

Kalamkari &
Hand-Printed Textiles

Pen Kalamkari, block Kalamkari and hand block printing — where "handmade" covers three completely different processes at three completely different prices.

Start a brief for this line The handicrafts wing
An artisan carving a wooden printing block for hand-block textile printing in Jaipur, India
What we buy

What we buy in this line

  • Pen KalamkariFreehand drawn with a bamboo pen — the slow, high-value form.
  • Block KalamkariCarved-block printed and hand-finished, at production volumes.
  • Hand block printingCarved teak blocks on cotton, silk and linen.
  • Natural dyeingMadder, indigo, iron and myrobalan, with the mordant chain documented.
  • Furnishing yardagePrinted to the metre for drapery, upholstery and bedding.
  • Made-upsCushions, quilts, table linen and wall panels.
Acceptance criteria

What we fix before the first print

Hand-made goods are bought against an approved sample, not a drawing. That only works if what the sample is being judged on is written down before anyone starts.

ProcessPen or block Kalamkari, or block print — named, because the price differs several-fold.
Block countNumber of blocks in the design and the registration tolerance between them.
Dye chemistryNatural or synthetic, with the mordants and the fastness results.
Base clothFibre, GSM, width and pre-shrink treatment.
Colour standardMatched to a physical swatch under a stated light source.
Permitted variationHand printing varies by nature; the acceptable range is agreed up front.
Wash careTested on the finished construction, not copied from a similar product.

Every criterion above appears in the inspection report as a pass or a fail, with the measurement beside it. Where a criterion is a judgement rather than a number, the judgement is recorded against a retained physical sample.

Risk & compliance

What we screen before a sample is quoted

Screen print sold as block print

Visible in the edge quality of the print, and routinely missed by buyers working from photographs.

Natural dye claims

"Natural dye" is asserted far more often than it is true. Where the buyer is paying for it, it is verified.

AZO and restricted substances

Tested against the buyer’s restricted-substances list; these clusters supply markets with looser rules than the US.

Dye effluent

Small-unit dyeing discharges into local water. It is an audit finding whether or not the buyer asks about it.

Where this is made

Clusters we work for this line

SrikalahastiMachilipatnamBagruSanganerAjrakhpur

Srikalahasti is the pen Kalamkari tradition; Machilipatnam is the block tradition. They are not substitutes for one another.

Related lines

The other hand-made skills

Pashmina & Fine ShawlsHand-made Banarasi & Silk BrocadeHand-made Patola, Muga & HandloomHand-made Chikankari & ZardoziHand-made Bidriware & DhokraHand-made Temple Bronze & BrasswareHand-made Meenakari, Thewa & KundanHand-made Jaipur Blue PotteryHand-made Pichwai, Tanjore & MiniatureHand-made Papier-Mâché, Lacquer & WoodHand-made Kashmiri Carpets & RugsHand-made

Send us the sample. We will tell you honestly.

Whether we can source it well in India, what it should cost, and what could go wrong — before you commit to anything.

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