Sabana Zari Art

Down in New Colony, specifically at 21/28 Gurgaon Kutchery, you’ll find our little setup. It’s a bit of a tight squeeze with all the frames and the fabric we have laying around. Zari work takes a lot of patience and clear eyes, so we try to keep the lights bright. The area around the kutchery is always moving, people walking by and cars honking. We sit on the floor mostly, working the needles through the cloth. It’s quiet work, but our hands are always moving. Sometimes the gold thread gets tangled and we have to spend a good twenty minutes just getting it straight again. We don't have a big sign or anything, just the address that people use to find us. Usually, there's a pile of finished pieces in the corner waiting to be picked up. We’ve known the people in the shops next to us for years. If someone is looking for us, they usually just ask the tea stall guy nearby. The dust from the road comes in sometimes, so we have to keep the finished stuff covered up with plastic sheets. It is just a regular day-to-day routine here in Gurgaon. We start when the sun is up and stay until the light fades too much to see the fine details. It’s not a big corporate operation, just a few of us making things the way we know how. We’ve been doing this for a long time and the routine just feels natural now.