Lucknow & Bareilly
Zardozi
Metal wire, dabka and sequins couched by hand on a wooden frame called an adda. A bridal skirt can hold three weeks of work by four karigars.
Our story · Jaipur, since 2016
A doorway, a thread, a wedding
Why Zariya
Zariya means a way through: the means by which something arrives. We started in 2016 in two rooms above a zari shop in Johari Bazaar, making lehengas for friends who could not find one that was both well made and honestly described.
The idea has not changed. We say what the fabric is. We say when the gold is brass. We leave margin in every seam, and we alter the first fitting free, because nobody is exactly a size.
The craft
Three kinds of handwork
Jaipur
Gota patti
Ribbons of gold and silver lamé cut into leaves and petals, folded, and stitched on to the cloth. It gives shine without the weight of metal thread.
Kutch & Jamnagar
Bandhani
Thousands of tiny knots tied by fingernail before the cloth is dyed. Each knot resists the colour and leaves a dot behind.
How a piece is made
From sketch to the night before
A piece begins as a drawing and a colour card. The cloth is dyed in Sanganer, then stretched on a wooden frame where the embroidery is laid by hand. It comes back to the studio to be cut, lined and stitched, and is checked twice before it is packed in muslin. A bridal lehenga takes about five weeks from first stitch to dispatch.
2016Studio founded in Jaipur
38Karigars and tailors we work with
5 weeksTo make a bridal lehenga
1Free alteration on every outfit