Reviving the craft

Since handmade phulkaris have almost disappeared and so only industrially- made phulkaris can be seen in the market. The traditional way of how a phulkari looked has also been modified now. Many phulkaris seen in the market have now incorporated curvy patterns along with the geometrical ones.

Many designers can be seen drawing inspiration from this art to create a whole range at fashion weeks.

Jacqueline Fernandez at Manish Malhotra's fashion show

Not only designers, but even Bollywood has drawn inspiration from phulkari. Movies such as 'Jab we met', 'Tanu weds Manu' and 'Teri meri kahaani' where Kareena Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut and Priyanka Chopra were seen wearing Phulkari inspired garments.

Kareena Kapoor in Jab we met

Kangana Ranaut in Tanu weds Manu

Priyanka Chopra in Teri meri kahaani

References-
1.Sharma, Richa and Richa Sharma. "Phulkari: A Colourful Heritage Of Vibrant Punjab - Kalaahut Blog". Kalaahut Blog. N.p., 2017. Web. 18 Feb. 2017. https://www.kalaahut.com/blog/art/phulkari-a-colourful-heritage-of-vibrant-punjab/

Cultural importance

The embroidery took a backseat with the division of India and Pakistan. However, it soon sprang back up like an evergreen style statement. Even though there is an inimitable demand for phulkari work till date, there are limited credible sources left from where one can purchase a hand-woven phulkari fabric.
Phulkari embroidery was a home craft and made for personal use. A pride of every punjabi village maiden, phulkari formed a part of her wedding trousseau. If a son was born in the family, the grandmother would make vari-da-bagh and presented it to her grand daughter-in-law as a gift.

The bagh was considered a symbol of marriage and among wealthy families, sometimes upto 51 pieces of various designs were given to the bride. She, in turn, wore them for auspicious occasions and ceremonies.
Phulkaris were also made for religious ceremonies or to be used at other festive times. A phulkari is sanctified to be used as the canopy over the holy book, "Guru Granth Sahib".



References-
1.Sharma, Richa and Richa Sharma. "Phulkari: A Colourful Heritage Of Vibrant Punjab - Kalaahut Blog". Kalaahut Blog. N.p., 2017. Web. 18 Feb. 2017. https://www.kalaahut.com/blog/art/phulkari-a-colourful-heritage-of-vibrant-punjab/

Stitches used in Phulkari

The darning stitch is the basic unit of phulkari and the workmanship of phulkari is graded according to the length and density of its stitches. Every thread is picked up from the obverse side and is done so finely that hardly any background material would be visible. The needle craft consists of mainly long and short darning stitches. It is done on the wrong side of the khaddar.

Though the work is simple in appearance, it requires a long time and good eye sight to master this technique. For outlining the borders and marking the areas, stem, chain and herring stitches are used. Double running and satin stitches were also used but the edging is done by buttonhole.

Earlier, khaddar was woven in narrow width and hence two or three such widths used to be joined from wrong sides to get a size of two and a half yards long and one and three quarter yards of width. The joints of the base fabrics were expertly covered with the herringbone stitch. The color of the base khaddar is red, blue, black, rust, brown and white.





References-
1. Naik, Shailaja D. Traditional Embroideries Of India. 1st ed. Print.

Materials used...

Hand spun and Hand woven khaddar is the base material for phulkari. Women, specially young unmarried girls, after completing their household chores, used to get together and engaged themselves in group spinning, knitting, crocheting and embroidering.

There are three types of hand woven fabrics. Khaddar, being a loosely spun and coarsely woven fabric, Chaunsa khaddar, woven with fine yarn, on which baghs were embroidered and Halwan is the light weight finely woven fabric, popular in Hazara and Rawalpindi, used to make Phulkari.

Soft, glossy, untwisted silk thread is used for the embroidery, which is basically supplied from Kashmir, Afghanistan and Bengal, However, the best quality pat comes from China. To complete a phulkari work, it requires around 50 to 100 grams of silk thread, whereas Baghs require double the amount of thread. Apart from silk, cotton thread (Baudi) is also sometimes used in white cotton material.

pat (silk thread)

The colors predominantly used are red, orange, green, golden yellow and deep blue.




References-
1.Kaur, Ramandeep and Ramandeep Kaur. "Phulkari – A Rich Heritage Of Punjab". My India. N.p., 2017. Web. 17 Jan. 2017.  http://www.mapsofindia.com/my-india/history/phulkari-a-rich-heritage-of-punjab
2. Kaur, Jasvinder. "The Past And Present Of Phulkari". Trinuneindia News Service. N.p., 2017. Web. 18 Feb. 2017. http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/the-past-and-present-of-phulkari/50112.html

The one with the motifs: Part 2

Varieties of both domestic and royal animals such as cow, buffalo, goat, cat, camel, horse and elephant were made as motifs on phulkari.
They also made birds like hen, chicken, sparrow, pigeon, crow and owl.

sainchi phulkari

With the roots of phulkari lying in rural Punjab, motif within these grids are inspired from village life and nature. They could represent birds, animals, vegetables, sun, moon, and other everyday imagery.

The beauty of phulkari lies in its intricate and balanced composition with pleasing and harmonious colors which make it a real work of art. 

    

     

  The basic motifs used in phulkari are well balanced and in complete symmetry. They are always in proportion and the motifs tend to repeat.

Bagh phulkari

There are many motifs in certain types of phulkaris that may not always be symmetrical. However, they do repeat themselves and there are a lot of similar patterns visible in the phulkari.

darshan dwar

The most intricate and sought after phulkaris are the sainchi phulkaris, which bring out the scenes or rural Punjab to life.

sainchi phulkari

References- 

1.  Naik, Shailaja D. Traditional Embroideries Of India. 1st ed. Print.

2. Sharma, Richa and Richa Sharma. "Phulkari: A Colourful Heritage Of Vibrant Punjab - Kalaahut Blog". Kalaahut Blog. N.p., 2017. Web. 18 Feb. 2017. https://www.kalaahut.com/blog/art/phulkari-a-colourful-heritage-of-vibrant-punjab/

   

The one with the motifs: Part 1

The punjabi women are genius in creating motifs though there is limitation of using darning stitch.
The newly created intricate and complicated designs were highly stylized, but were never copied, referred or traced from any books. they are the creation of the versatile punjabi ladies.

The  motifs comprised of the things used in day today life, articles precious to them, which are valued and considered sacred and had a geometric base.

  

 Geometrical designs all over are commonly used for Baghs. Basic geometrical shapes like triangle, square, rectangle, vertical and horizontal lines are intelligently incorporated to produce complicated patterns. Further appropriate application of colors help to produce highly stylized motifs.

  

 

As the word phulkari itself suggests, a large variety of flowers such as lotus, cotton and sunflower were used in making motif for the phulkari dupattas. these motifs were stylized and used.     

References- 

1. Suri, Guneet. "PHULKARI-Do It In Treditional Way". Guneetsuri92.blogspot.in. N.p., 2017. Web. 18 Feb. 2017. http://guneetsuri92.blogspot.in/2012/09/phulkari-do-it-in-treditional-way.html

2.  Naik, Shailaja D. Traditional Embroideries Of India. 1st ed. Print.

Visual diary

As I researched more and more about phulkari, I maintained a visual diary as it is impossible to just memorize everything. This visual diary, basically, records the research findings, notes, brainstorming, sketches etc. It is imperative to record everything in the visual diary so that its easier to locate and refer to any information whenever required.
 I divided my topic into different sub headings which makes it easier to categorize my work. It includes images of phulkari as well as sketches of the same.

"Phulkari" written in punjabi

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A young punjabi woman wearing a phulkari dupatta

Following are the motifs that are used in different types of phulkaris:-

                                                         

bagh phulkari

motif from sainchi phulkari 

Maintaining this diary helps me keep every little piece of information in one place and is therefore, an essential thing whenever doing detailed research on a particular topic.

Different phulkaris and their significance

The traditional way of making phulkari was on a thick cotton fabric called khaddar. Generally, four colours of khaddar were used and they all had different kinds of importance - white used by old women or widows, red used by young girls and brides-to-be, black and blue were for daily use. The khaddar was covered all over with striking floral patterns. 

There are different types of phulkari. They differ on basis like colour, work, and significance in society.                    

phulkari dupatta with bagh embroidery 

Bagh - 

The phulkari that is totally covered with embroidery is known as bagh or garden. Completing this piece can take an entire year and also requires a lot of patience. 

Thirma - 

Thirma's distinguishing feature is that its made on white khaddar. This type of phulkari symbolizes purity and is therefore, often worn by elderly women or widows. 

Darshan Dwar - 

Darshan Dwar is a special type of phulkari made to be offered at gurudwaras. It was generally made in East Punjab and included animal and human figures along with floral patterns. 

Vari-da-bagh - 

Vari-da-bagh was given as a gift to a bride by her in-laws upon entering her new home. It was always made on reddish-orange khaddar having embroidery with only a single golden or orange coloured silk thread all over except on the borders. 

Chope -
This type of phulkari is made by the maternal grandmother of a bride. She start making it as the girl child is born. It has the same design on both sides of the cloth and is made by using the holbein stitch. Chope is used for wrapping a bride after a ritual bath on the wedding day and therefore, its size was more than any other phulkari.

chope phulkari 

Panchranga bagh -
Panchranga means five colours. This bagh had embroideries done using five different colours. 

However, handmade phulkaris have now almost disappeared and more industrially made phulkaris can be seen in the market.

Hopefully, the phulkari making tradition keeps going on.




References-

1. Kaur, Ramandeep and Ramandeep Kaur. "Phulkari – A Rich Heritage Of Punjab". My India. N.p., 2017. Web. 17 Jan. 2017. http://www.mapsofindia.com/my-india/history/phulkari-a-rich-heritage-of-punjab

2. Naik, Shailaja D. Traditional Embroideries Of India. 1st ed. Print.

The birth of phulkari

There a lot of theories as to how Phulkari came into practice. Some theories suggest that this craft migrated from Persian art and resembles a Persian embroidery known as 'Gulkari' which also means flower work. Another theory suggests that phulkari was made in the famous Punjabi folklore of Heer and Ranjha written by Waris Shah. 

An imagery of Heer wearing a phulkari dupatta

However, the strongest theory is that this craft was brought by the Jat tribes of east Punjab who were basically peasants who migrated from central Asia. In early days, phulkari was a reflection of the routine and regular life of a Punjabi woman. These women had gained such expertise that they could make even a mediocre phulkari look exquisite. There was full freedom of creativity and the motifs used represented the values of Punjab.

In the past as soon as a girl was born, the mother and grandmother would start embroidering Baghs (a type of phulkari) which were then given to the girl at the time of her marriage. Many folk songs of Punjab also indicate the emotional attachment of a girl with the phulkari given to her by her mother or grandmother or aunts. 

A phulkari chaddar used at the time of marriage

Phulkari still continues to be an integral part of auspicious occasions such as marriage ceremonies and is still synonymous to Punjab and its culture.





References-
1.Embroidery on Indian bridal wear | Phulkari from Punjab N.p., 2017. Web. 17 Jan. 2017.  http://www.marrymeweddings.in/wpblog/embroidery-on-indian-bridal-wear-phulkari-from-punjab.html

2. Pedia, Team. "Phulkari: Traditional Embroidery From Punjab | Utsavpedia". Utsavpedia. N.p., 2017. Web. 17 Jan. 2017.

When my heart fell for Phulkari...

Anyone who has grown up in a colourful country like India knows how we breathe, live, wear and tear multitudes of different crafts. Right from the first colourful rattler that a baby holds to that beautiful dupatta an Indian bride proudly adorns, the various forms of Indian crafts have always surrounded our existence. But sadly, the omnipresence of these different art forms only dilute their importance in our lives. We wow them when people from foreign lands praise them and then, back in the grind, they become part of the routine lives we lead.

In order to learn more about the art and craft forms of India, I visited the craft museum, Dilli Haat and a few other local places to get a look at different kinds of works. The warli and madhubani paintings,the pattachitra, the chikankari and the bidriware surely stunned me but my heart was stuck on only one thing: PHULKARI.

The word 'Phulkari' literally translates to flower work. Belonging to the state of Punjab, this form of embroidery has always been a part of important and auspicious occasions such as weddings and festivals. It is like an embroidered shawl but very vibrant and attractive. 

phulkari dupatta with bagh embroidery

The main characteristics of this embroidery are the use of darn stitch on the wrong side of cloth with coloured silk thread. Finding its first mentions in Punjabi folklore of Heer and Ranjha, owning a Phulkari is a dream for every Punjabi girl.