Hand embroidered Chikankari from Lucknow
Hand-embroidered Chikankari, Craftmark certified, made by 1,000+ fairly paid artisan women.
Enter the atelierEvery piece names the woman who embroidered it, and we publish what she is paid.
Sarees — the hero drape
Mulmul, Kota, Chanderi and georgette, all worked by hand
Complete sets, one decision
Kurta-pant pairs and semi-stitched Anarkalis
The Heritage Atelier
Bridal lehengas and all-over-worked drapes, finished to your measure
Rani Magenta Lehenga Set, Semi Stitched
georgette
₹35,000
Aftaab Yellow Georgette Saree
georgette
₹24,950
Noor Pink Viscose Saree
viscose
₹25,999
Kanak Yellow Viscose Saree
viscose
₹25,999
Haldi Mustard Viscose Saree
viscose
₹25,999
Feroza Turquoise Georgette Saree
georgette
₹24,999
Jalebi Peach Lehenga Choli
georgette
₹12,000
Zamurrad Green Viscose Saree
viscose
₹25,999
श्वेत
Craftmark certified
Every piece is embroidered by members of self-help groups across Lucknow, women who earn ₹500 per kurta where middlemen pay ₹20–50. Craftmark License 278P060 certifies our craft processes as genuinely handmade.
Meet the artisans
The stitch lexicon
Chikankari is a vocabulary, and every Shwet piece names the stitches it carries. Thirteen are stitches of the craft itself, from the shadow of bakhiya to the knot of phanda. The fourteenth, mukaish, is allied badla work, flattened metal twisted through the cloth for sparkle.
- Bakhiya (shadow work)
- Herringbone worked on the reverse of sheer cloth, so the motif glows through as a soft shadow, the signature of true Chikankari.
- Phanda (knot)
- Tight millet-seed knots placed one by one to build jasmine buds and flower centres.
- Murri (grain)
- Rice-grain knots wound around the needle, the classic raised centre of every floral butti.Not in the current catalogue
- Jaali (lattice)
- Warp and weft parted with the needle into a net-like lattice. The cloth is never cut.
- Tepchi (running)
- The swift running stitch laid along the printed motif, the ground on which every other stitch is built.
- Hool (eyelet)
- A fine eyelet pierced open and bound in, the heart of a flower.
- Keel Kangan
- Keel sets the pointed flower centre. Kangan rings it like a bangle around the motif.
- Ghas Patti (grass leaf)
- Blades of grass worked in mirrored V-strokes, leaf-work that fans across hems and vines.
- Zanzeera (chain)
- A fine chain stitch that outlines each motif after the filling is complete.Not in the current catalogue
- Rahet (stem)
- A solid stem-line of backstitch, the spine that every vine grows from.Not in the current catalogue
- Pechni (twisted wrap)
- Tepchi wrapped over with thread into a raised, spiralled cord.
- Chana Patti (gram leaf)
- Gram-leaf trios scattered along creepers, small leaves in threes.
- Hathkati (open drawn work)
- Threads drawn out and re-bound entirely by hand into airy open bands of drawn-thread work.
- Mukaish (metal sparkle)
- Flattened metal wire pierced through the cloth and twisted into points of sparkle, Lucknow’s badla work.