The Bagru index

The people behind the cloth.

Printing houses and master printers in Bagru, listed by name. Write to them directly; where they prefer, we make the introduction. The first listings are being confirmed with the workshops now.

Opening soon

How the index works

Listings are free.
Every listing names the people who print.
Contact goes straight to the workshop. We take no commission.
Where a workshop prefers, we make the introduction ourselves.

Opening soon

The first listings are being confirmed.

Nothing is published here until the workshop it names has said what it wants published: which people, which techniques, which way to reach them. Those conversations are happening now, workshop by workshop.

In the meantime the buyer’s guide covers how printing in Bagru works and how to brief a workshop, and the archive credits the printers behind each project by name.

The trade

Who does what in Bagru

Block carver
Kharadi

Carves the design into seasoned hardwood, usually sheesham or teak.
Printer
Chhipa

Prints the cloth by hand at a long padded table, one impression at a time, aligning by eye.
Dyer
Rangrez

Runs the vats and the boiling: indigo, alizarin for red, and the harda bath that prepares the cloth.
Washer
Dhobi

Washes the printed cloth to clear the resist and fix the colour, then spreads it to dry on the ground.
Tailor and finisher
Darzi

Cuts and stitches finished products: totes, robes, cushions, table linen.
Exporter or courier

Moves the goods. A workshop with an Import Export Code can ship directly on a commercial invoice; without one, a courier or a merchant exporter does the paperwork.