Phulkari

プルカリ刺繍 / living tradition / surviving 19th-century works / Technique / Textile Traditions

Punjab's embroidery tradition joining lustrous silk with coarse cotton. Repeated geometric fields and changes in stitch direction make light move across the cloth. Its range includes densely covered bagh and figurative scenes, with strong relationships to marriage, family memory and the region across today's India–Pakistan border.

Phulkari — Punjab embroidered shawl — photo: Kritzolina — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 — Punjab embroidered shawl — photo: Kritzolina — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Phulkari — Punjab embroidered shawl, front and reverse — photo: Kritzolina — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 — Punjab embroidered shawl, front and reverse — photo: Kritzolina — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0

At a glance

Visual cues

Bright silk against coarse earth-coloured cotton
Repeated geometric fields in yellow or pink
Changes of thread direction altering reflected light
Coverage ranging from scattered motifs to dense bagh

Best used for

Explaining the relationship between region, family and embroidered form
Collaborating on cloth or garments whose design centres on thread direction and coverage

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Dictionary entry

Type: Separate a small label for region, technique and maker from the stitched pattern.
Composition: Decide where ground remains visible and where stitches cover it; repeat changes in thread direction.
Material: Combine rough cotton with lustrous threads and use their reflection rather than a printed flat colour to build the surface.
Caution: The name's association with flowers does not limit it to floral embroidery. Retain Punjab's cross-border history and treat bagh as a form within the tradition rather than an unrelated extra style.
Further study: Philadelphia Museum of Art — pre-Partition phulkari / Bagh, chope and sainchi examples / V&A — Phulkari and floss-silk embroidery

Related entries

Kantha (カンタ刺繍)Same Textile Traditions lineage.Compare Phulkari and Kantha
Kente (ケンテ)Same Textile Traditions lineage.Compare Phulkari and Kente

Cite this entry

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Link: https://indexstyle.org/styles/phulkari
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