Chikan is the language of Lucknow. It has its words, the stitches, phrases, the motifs. poem.the form. It is this understanding that makes chikan different from embroidery of any other part of the world. To me chikan is nostalgia, a fragrance of the past, a poem by Mir Anees. It was this fading ethos of chikan that I tried to recreate in my film 'Anjuman' in 1986. Since then it has been an ongoing search in form and content - integrating idioms and metaphors and the act of living in Lucknow and Kotwara. In Kotwara we recreate the romance of chikan, the simple sensitivity of form, texture and fabric that reflects the discerning sensitivity of the wearer and the poise and individuality instantly felt and communicated. We have tried to break it away from a labour movement imparting a design element to an existing degenerated craft form for the modern world. And this discerning woman can tell the authenticity and dynamism from an original Kotwara piece from its copies where our innovations in finish and detailing, the flourish of motif and form have been mindlessly imitated. Each day in Kotwara we dream to look ahead, create new feelings, innovate new details. Not only with the craft but the life of the craftswomen and her children, their education, outlook and livelihood.

Come and share this with us in Kotwara, the world of a Sufi. Words, music, rhythm, dance, humanity and beauty, sketches and stitches, motif, texture and form, fabric and flow, sun wind rain flower trees and dust. all become one. the unity of creation.