Needle Kraft (Mumtaz Zariwala)

Needle Kraft is our shop, and many people around here also know us as Mumtaz Zariwala. We are located at Shop Number 8 in Hampton Court on Wode House Road in Colaba. This is a very old and famous part of the city. We are quite close to the Colaba Post Office, which is a big landmark for anyone trying to find us. Our work is all about the needle and the thread, specifically zari work which takes a lot of patience. The shop is filled with the shine of different threads and the smell of fabric. It’s a quiet kind of work compared to the noise of the traffic on Wode House Road. We sit here for hours working on intricate patterns. The building, Hampton Court, has a lot of history and the ceilings are high. We have lived and worked in this area for a long time. People stop by to see what we are making or to bring in their own projects. It’s a small space, but we have everything we need right where we can reach it. We don't use big machines for everything; a lot of it is done by hand with a simple needle. We keep regular hours and usually have a cup of tea while we work in the afternoon. It is a traditional craft and we are just happy to be doing it here in this corner of Colaba.