Khinkhwab Diaries

Hereke carpets, İznik tiles and Ottoman silk — the imperial crafts of Turkey, where loom and kiln reached courtly perfection.

The satin-weave Banarasi — dense, smooth and clean-backed — and the three-brothers legend behind its unusual name.

Murano glass, Florentine leather and Venetian silk — the workshops and centuries-old crafts that made Italy a byword for beautiful things.

A field guide to the language of Banarasi motifs — the bootis, jals and janglas, the borders, and the meanings woven into peacocks, lotuses and vines.

Brocade from Versailles to the runway — the silk-weaving city of Lyon, and how French craft and the great fashion houses carried gold cloth into modern style.

Indigo from the vat, red from madder and lac, yellow from turmeric and flowers — how silk was coloured with natural dyes before synthetic colour arrived.

Nishijin brocade, deep indigo and the art of repair — Japan's textile crafts and the philosophy of mending that turns wear into beauty.

The hunting-scene Banarasi — forests, beasts and riders woven across the silk — and its southern cousin, the Vanasingaram of Kanchipuram.

Silk, cloud brocade and porcelain — the crafts that gave the world its very word for fine cloth, from the looms of Nanjing to the kilns of Jingdezhen.

A single Banarasi saree passes through many hands — the designer, weaver, naari-fillers, dyers, comb-makers, darners and polishers of Varanasi. Meet the people behind the cloth.

The gold-threaded songket, the ikats of the islands and the other glowing weaves of South-East Asia — and where they meet the Banarasi tradition.

A history of the looms behind the Banarasi saree — the draw loom and its draw boy, the pit loom, the backstrap and frame looms, the Jacquard revolution and the...