The Atelier

A piece is not made. It is gathered — thread by thread, hour by hour, from many hands.

Faisalabad — the city that has dressed the subcontinent

For three hundred years, Faisalabad — Lyallpur, as it was once known — has been the textile capital of this region. Long before Saanjh, long before any of us, this city was teaching its daughters how to thread a needle so finely that the back of the cloth would look as careful as the front. That is the standard we inherit.

Our karigars

Saanjh employs a small team of master embroiderers — each one trained in a specific craft. None of them learned it in school. They learned it from their mothers, who learned it from theirs. We pay above market rate, on time, every month. This is not noble. It is the bare minimum.

We will not be naming our karigars publicly. They have asked for their privacy and we honour it. What we will say: they are the reason Saanjh exists.

The crafts we work in

Zardozi

Metallic thread — gold and silver — couched onto the fabric with a fine hook. The oldest of our techniques. Mughal courts wore it. Brides still do. Heavy, dimensional, unmistakeable.

Aari

Chain-stitch embroidery worked from the underside of the fabric with a long hooked needle. The hands of an aari karigar move so fast they blur. The motifs that result are delicate, fluid, almost drawn.

Resham

Silk thread, hand-laid. Used for floral work, paisleys, intricate fills. It is what gives Saanjh's pieces their painterly softness.

Mirror & sequin

Small mirrors and sequins, applied by hand, one at a time. Catches dusk light in a way no screen-printed sequin ever can.

Mukaish

Tiny metal twists worked through the fabric — a Lucknowi craft. We use it sparingly, as accents. When you catch it in candlelight, you understand why empresses asked for it.