Chikankari is a traditional embroidery art from Lucknow that evolved from a professional men's activity to a cottage industry primarily involving Muslim women artisans. The production process is intricate, featuring a network of mahajans who oversee artisan work under exploitative wage conditions. Despite facing numerous challenges, including low wages and poor working conditions, Chikankari remains a culturally significant craft that contributes to the local economy.

1. CHIKANKARI
Prepared by:-
Ghufran Ahmad Khan
M. Arch. Ist Sem.
(Pedagogy)

2. INTRODUCTION
• Chinkankari is an art, which results in the transformation of the plainest cotton and organdie into
flowing yards of magic.
• Bengali work was mainly for the European market.
• In Lucknow embroiderers worked under the trade of local courts. When these declined in the mid
nineteenth century chikan changed from a professional activity of men to a cottage industry for women.
• With the passage of time, Indian embroidery has brought out professionalism in the art with
preserving its domestic affiliation, professional work normally being done by men and made either for
someone who supports local trade or export.
• Domestic work is much localised, families generally remaining in one place, with designs handed down
through generations practice such an art both for preserving their generational legacy and earning their
livelihood.

3. HISTORY OF LUCKNOW CHIKANKARI
Origin of Chikan
• The word chikan is Persian, kari being hindi for ‘work’.
• Persian was the court language of India, during the time of Mughals.
• The usual Persian word for embroidery is naksh.
Journey of Chikan
 Persia
 Straight lines rather than curves.
 Patterns tend to be geometric and not floral.
 Persian white work of the nineteenth century is of crosses, squares and diagonals.
 Bengal
 There is some confusion over what chikan was made in Calcutta and what traded there from Dacca.
 By the mid of nineteenth century intricately worked handkerchiefs attributed to Calcutta.
 They show a strong European influence both in technique and in use of Pictorial motifs.
 Lucknow
 By 1904, it was one of the most important industries of Lucknow.
 One, established in 1890 and still active today, offered in 1901 over one thousand different designs
of Chikan.

4. GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION

5. Cloth
Cutting
Stiching
Printing
Embroidery
Jali Work
Final
Stitching
Washing
Pressing
Finishing
Final Product
For Sale
Cloth
Cutting
Printing
Embroidery
Jali Work
Pico
Washing
Pressing
Finishing
Final Product
For Sale
DETAILS OF PRODUCTION CHAIN
For Stitch items
For Unstitch Items

6. STRUCTURE OF THE ENTERPRISES IN THE CLUSTER
Turnover Rs. Per
annum
Number of
Enterprises
2-5 Crores 5
1-3 Crores 10
50-100 Lacs 300
20-50 Lacs 750
5-20 Lacs 2000
Total 5065
Source: SSI, Diagnostic Study of the Chikan Embroidery Cluster, Lucknow, U.P
5 Manufacturers Turnover Rs. 22 Crores
10 Manufacturers Turnover Rs. 25 Crores
300 Manufacturers Turnover Rs. 225
Crores
750 Manufacturers Turnover
Rs. 250 Crores
2000 Manufacturers
Turnover Rs. 300
Cores
2000 Small
Manufacturers
Turnover Rs. 80
Crores

7. KEY ROLE PLAYERS OF THE CLUSTER
There are many civil society organisations working for welfare of artisans in the cluster. And the main
aim is to uplift the economic & social conditions of the handicraft artisans.
 Civil Society Organizations
 Transporters and Cargo Service Providers
 District Industries Center (DIC), Lucknow
 Export Promotion Bureau, U.P., Lucknow
 U.P. Trade Promotion Authorities, Kanpur
 Handicrafts Marketing and Service Extension Center, Barabanki
 Small Industries Development Bank Of India (SIDBI)
 Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH), New Delhi
 Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC)
 Handloom & Handicraft Export Promotion Corporation, New Delhi
 Indian Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO),New Delhi
 Financial Institutions

8. KEY ACTORS OF CHIKANKARI

9. SOCIO – ECONOMIC STATUS OF THE STAKEHOLDERS
• Most of the Chikan workers are Muslim woman doing this magnificent artistic work by living in the
purdah in Chikan craft the large producers are called Mahajans.
• They procure the raw materials from the market, designs from the designers and allocate the work
among the home-based workers out of which most of them are woman to complete the work at a
predetermined wage or piece rate.
• Hence the artisans completely depends upon the mahajans as for financial aspects are concerned for
carrying out the craft making which ultimately brings about the same problem of low wage as happened
in other crafts and handloom clusters.
• Even the most skilled artisans insist that it was impossible to earn over a certain amount in a given
week or month however hard of worked.
• The exact wage of the product depends upon the magnitude of the embroidery work undertaken on
the product.
• However the payment structure for this type of work varies from rural area to urban area. While in
rural area the payment made to the professionals is less, in urban area like Lucknow the payment
structure is some how high than rural area.
• The system of middleman gives rise to the exploitation of the real artisans.

10. The working conditions are primitive and congested, where there is neither any scope of learning and
nor innovating designs or product range. Hence the socio-economic condition of the artisans seems to
be not different than the other artisans of other products.
 Productivity of the artisans
 Average person in a family engaged in the craft
 Average educational level of the artisans
 Average earnings of an artisan
 Average working hours in the centre

11. CONSTRAINTS AND SUGGESTIVE MEASURES
 Availability of Raw Material
 Subcontracting Of Production Process
 No Designer Input
 Lengthy Production Time
 No Regular Work to Artisans
 Very Less Wages to Artisans
 Bad Workplace Conditions of Artisans
 Abundance of Artisans of Only 4-5 Styles of Stitches
 Specialisation in Product Manufacturing
 Undercutting Practice among Manufacturers
 Establishment of Embroidery Centres by Manufacturers
 Assessment of Organisational Linkages in the Cluster
 No Association or Forum of SMES in the Cluster
 No Proper Linkage among Manufacturers
 No Direct Relation Between Artisans and Manufacturers

12. ISSUES FOR INDIAN CRAFTSPEOPLE
• Copying is a way of life in India, and exploitation is pervasive at every level.
• Craftspeople themselves often leak unique designs belonging to their clients to the highest bidder.
• Many aspects of crafts production in India, as well as the very nature of the crafts traditions
themselves, present unique problems in developing and implementing intellectual property rights (IPR)
mechanisms for their protection. There are three primary areas of difficulty:
Determining ownership,
Developing membership structures for owners, and
Establishing and maintaining enforcement procedures.
Several different types of owners in the crafts sector of India who need protection:
 Traditional craftspeople making traditional objects
 Craftspeople using their traditional skills, materials, and techniques to produce new products of
their own design
 Designers and craftspeople who work together to create “fusion” products
 Designers/manufacturers who provide designs to craftspeople or use crafts producers’ skills in
execution of particular designs

13. POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
Except in a museum setting, no traditional craft skill can be sustained unless it has a viable market. Two
basic types of solution are required:
1.) To increase the income of crafts producers, the prerequisites are adaptation of skills and
products to meet new market requirements and improvement in market access and supply.
2.) To sustain the traditional skill base and to protect the artisans’ traditional knowledge
resources, the priority is development and implementation of appropriate IPR legislation.
Two promising ways to improve livelihoods while saving skills and knowledge are:
• Adapting traditional skills to new products for changing markets. This adaptation can be
accomplished in many areas in India, including fashion, home furnishings design, and tourism.
• Repositioning skills and products for upscale markets that appreciate and are willing to pay
premiums for handcrafted quality and character.

14. ACTIVITIES PROPOSED FOR ACHIEVING THE GOALS

15. PROTECTION OF TRADITIONAL CRAFT SKILLS
• The International Trade Centre (ITC) points out that support to crafts has "become a must on the path
towards poverty alleviation and environment protection, two local and compelling concerns worldwide"
(ITC 1999).
• The growing interest in the role that crafts can play in the development process has also led to
increasing involvement in this area by a great many international organizations and agencies, among
them the International Development Bank (IDB), the International Labour Organization (ILO), UNESCO,
the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and others.
• Crafts producers often employ skills and complex knowledge systems that have evolved over long
periods of time.
• Even as the products "globalize" (reaching an increasingly distant clientele via fairly sophisticated
marketing systems), however, the skills and the knowledge systems remain largely informal, poorly
protected, inadequately documented, socially and culturally disadvantaged, and imperfectly adaptive.
• Craft industries form an important sector of the Indian economy, contributing substantially to
manufacturing income, employment, and exports, and the scale of these contributions is increasing.

16. • The part-time, rural nature of much crafts activity also complements the lifestyles of many
crafts workers, provides supplementary income to seasonal agricultural workers and part-
time income to women, and provides craftspeople with the means to remain in their
traditional villages, where alternative employment opportunities are limited.
• Many craftspeople themselves express the strong desire to remain in their traditional
profession.
• And although many are highly talented and extremely skilled in their own craft form, most
are poorly educated or illiterate and come from caste groups of low social status.
• The most viable means to improve their lives appears to be maximizing the high skill base
they already possess.
• If the crafts producers continue to reap so few rewards from it, however, more and more
people will leave these traditional professions for other forms of employment, and his skills
and knowledge will ultimately be lost.

17. SWOT ANALYSIS

18. CONCLUSION
• Handicrafts represent our culture that is rich, diverse and believes in valuing things done with hands
and bringing people from all communities, castes and religions together.
• They are our composite heritage and we must feel pride in them and make all efforts to preserve
them. It mirrors the craftsmen’s lives, reflect their hidden desires and aspirations, and expresses the
cultural traditions and religious beliefs of the society to which they belong.
• Even the facade of Bada Imambara, an 18th-century monument, has designs which publicise typical
chikan motifs.
• Undoubtedly, Lucknow, renowned for Umrao Jaan’s beauty and adaa, is as famous for the exquisite
chikan she wore.
• The motifs of chikankari range from mughal architectural design of buildings to vine themes and from
birds to animals. The Impact of Islamic civilization on Indian crafts has been profound.
• With the passage of time, the change in culture, the change in the statement of fashion; we could see
the Chikankari is still in the fashion.
• Crafts form a special category of traditional knowledge.
• Irrespective of fact whether a design is a structural or decorative one of the basic necessity is the
selection of a motif. A motif is the most simplified form of design, formed mainly with the help of line.

19. Chikankari Vs Principles of design:
• Balance is one of the five principles of design. It gives a restful effect obtained by grouping shapes are
colour around a center in such a way that there are equal attractions on each side of that center. The
three basic forms of balance are formal, informal, and radial balance.
• Harmony is the art principle, which produces an impression of unity through the selection and
arrangement of consistent objects and ideas. Fine design is often harmonic in character. Harmony can be
brought about with shape, size, texture, line and colour.
• The principle of proportions is sometimes called the law of relationship. It states that the relation
between parts of the same thing or between different things of the same group should be satisfying.
• Rhythm means an easy connected path along which the eye may travel in any arrangement of line,
form, or colours. This can be obtained by repetition of shapes; progression of sizes, and by continues line
movement.
• Emphasis is the principle that directs us to have a center of interest in any arrangement and a
dominating idea in any scheme. The success of the result depends upon what, how, how much and
where to emphasize.

20. • Though all art principles have a role to play in design development the principle rhythm
plays the most important role.
• The role of design organization in textiles design depends on whether it is an all over
pattern, a border pattern, a pallu design or a combination of any two.
• Craft industry plays an important role in the Indian economy also.
• A large no. of the products is imported as well as fulfills the demands of India.
• And this is substantially helpful in providing employment.
• And hence, in my opinion, the demand for the Indian handicraft is increasing.
• And in other words, we could say that it reflects the blending of the roots of tradition and
culture of Lucknow.
• And at last, I would like to conclude it by quoting the expert of chikan embroidery, “When
an art becomes a way to earn a living, it becomes time-bound; naturally, the quality suffers”.
Does that mean another slice of Lucknow’s rich history will wither away?

21. REFERENCES
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