Artisan Stories

Rahul Verma

Master Chikankari Karigar

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Rahul Verma

Rahul learned to embroider sitting beside his father in the narrow lanes of Chowk, Lucknow. At age 11, his first piece was a small mogra motif on a handkerchief. Today, his team of 40 karigars produces pieces that are worn at weddings from Mumbai to London.

"The needle is an extension of my thoughts," Rahul says. "When I embroider, I am not thinking — I am feeling. Each flower I stitch is the same flower my father taught me, and his father taught him."

Rahul specialises in the rarest chikankari stitches — phanda (tiny knots that resemble seeds) and the elusive shadow work, where the embroidery is visible only when held against light. He trains 6 new karigars every year, many of them from the neighbourhood where he grew up.

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Sunita Devi

Sunita began weaving at age 14 in her family's two-loom household in Madanpura, Varanasi. She was the first woman in her family to weave commercially — a decision that took years of quiet persistence.

Her speciality is katan silk — the purest form of Banarasi weave, where both warp and weft are made of pure silk. On a good day, working 10 hours, Sunita can weave just 6 inches of fabric. A full saree takes 15–20 days.

"The loom does not hurry," she says. "And neither should the weaver."

Sunita is GI-certified and one of only 12 weavers in Varanasi trained in the ancient shikargah (hunting scene) pattern. Her sarees have been acquired by the Craft Museum in Delhi and worn at royal weddings across Rajasthan.

Sunita Devi

Master Banarasi Silk Weaver

Mohammad Salim

Zari Buti Specialist

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Mohammad Salim

Mohammad Salim calls himself a painter — except his canvas is silk and his brushes are gold threads. He spent three years in the 1990s learning the meena technique from an elderly weaver who had no apprentices left. Today, Salim is one of the last living masters of meena buti — the coloured enamel-like inlay that gives Banarasi georgette its jewel-toned shimmer.

"Every buti has a story," he explains, pulling out a small notebook where he has sketched hundreds of motif patterns — flowers, birds, paisleys, geometric grids — accumulated over two decades. "I never repeat the same buti in the same combination twice."

Salim's work has a six-month waitlist. He weaves only 3–4 hours a day to preserve his eyesight — and every finished metre is signed with a small personal motif woven into the selvedge.

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Geeta Sharma

Geeta discovered mukaish — the art of embedding tiny metal foil sequins into chikankari fabric — by accident. Watching an older karigar in her mohalla work by lamplight, she was captivated by how the silver foil caught the light in the dark room, transforming a plain white suit into something that seemed to breathe.

She apprenticed for four years before doing her first commercial piece. Mukaish requires extreme precision — each foil piece is pressed individually with a blunt needle — and Geeta can embed up to 800 foil pieces in a single day.

"My hands remember what my eyes sometimes forget," she says. "I can work in almost complete darkness now."

Geeta leads a cooperative of 22 women karigars in her neighbourhood, many of whom support their families entirely through their craft income.

Geeta Sharma

Chikankari Mukaish Artist