Textile Tours in India

The spectrum of variances in textile traditions in India is much larger than one would expect in any similarly sized geographical or population expanse. The main reason for this variety is that textile traditions are material manifestations of the large spectrum of separate ethnic sub-groups. Secondly, they have had close to two thousand years to unfold and develop their intrinsic identities, thereby meaning the deviations in textile traditions have had sufficient time to bloom. Thirdly, over the centuries, several migrations into India have occurred – though they carried with them their skills to a totally new geographical area, original resources for their craft may not have always been available and substitution may have been forced. Further, local tastes and patronage may have forced adaptation or mutations giving birth to new variants of the old tradition.

Textile Tour With Us

Overflowing with colours, textures and designs, India’s textile heritage makes for a fascinating travel experience. Such is the diversity – the splendid silks of North and South India, the colourful mirror work, block printing and tie-and-dye work of Rajasthan and Gujarat, the magnificent embroidery chikankari of Lucknow, to name a few – that you can spend months just exploring India’s textile heritage.

We promise to take you beyond the guidebooks into the traditional textile centers for authentic, unique and interactive experiences with local artisans who carry on indigenous arts that are thousands of years old. Indeed, if you do not want to travel full two-three weeks doing a ‘textile tour’ we can seamlessly insert few day of interaction with textile artisans during a more ‘regular’ tour of yours – after all, wherever you might be in India, you are never far from an amazing textile tradition.

Sample Itinerary: Woven Threads – The Textile Traditions of North India

• Explore the bustling lanes of Delhi with its wedding street, jewellers’ lane and colorful sari bazaar
• Take a train to Lucknow known for its exquisite shadow-work embroidery, Chikankari
• Drive to Varanasi and visit a silk weaving centre churning out sophisticated saris with their exquisite designs, colours and Zari
• Fly to Jaipur and immerse yourself in a block-printing workshop
• Drive to Udaipur and explore its colourful markets exhibiting batik prints
• Continue to the state of Gujarat synonymous with colourful textiles and embroideries and spend a few days in the fascinating tribal region of Kutch, which is the richest source of folk embroidery in the world.