30 May 2026 · 5 min read
The zardozi hands of Bareilly
Bullion, dabka and two hundred hours of metal embroidery, one frame at a time.
Zardozi is embroidery the way masonry is decoration, metal worked into cloth until the cloth forgets it was ever plain. The adda frame holds the silk drum-tight; the karigar works above it with a hooked needle, laying bullion knots the size of a grain of rice.
Our Bareilly karigars sign every bodice on the inner lining. Two hundred hours is a normal number. The lehenga you dance in carries a working month of somebody's hands. We think you should know their name, so it ships with it.
Why metal, still
Sequins photograph; zardozi holds light and returns it slowly. Under ballroom light the difference is the difference between glitter and glow. There is no machine version worth the name.