Our craft
Printed by hand
Every Daughters of India piece is made by hand in India. Most are block printed; some are screen printed, hand dyed or woven on a hand loom. Then each is cut and sewn in our workshops.
01
The block
Every print begins as wood. Each block is carved by hand and carries one part of the design, and each colour needs its own. Kyra takes two blocks; our Jasmine designs, up to six.
Technique
Hand block printing
Hand block printing is a traditional artisan technique that uses hand-carved wooden blocks to print fabric by hand. Rooted in Indian craft traditions, the process is slow and highly skilled, beginning with carving wooden blocks and carefully preparing the fabric. Dyes are mixed by hand and stamped in precise alignment, often in layers to build the design.
Printed this way
All Kyra
02
The cloth
Once printed, the cloth is washed to set the colour, then laid out to dry in the sun. It softens the fabric and deepens the print.
Most of our pieces are cotton: airy voile and soft gauze. Some are linen, or linen blended with viscose. Where a piece is organic cotton, its label says so.
The hands behind it
Some of the women who print our cloth.
RADHAArtisan, hand block printing 
SAROJArtisan, hand block printing 
Aasha JiArtisan, hand block printing 
UGANTI DEVIArtisan, hand block printing 
HemlataArtisan, hand block printing 
PUNAM, REKHA & SURESHIArtisans, hand block printing
At the printing table
Where every piece begins.
The workshopLong tables, laid with cloth, ready to print. 
One block at a timePremlata, at the printing table. 
Checked by eyeEvery length is checked before it is cut and sewn. 
Row by rowRadha, pressing the block by hand.
Each design takes 120 days or more to make, from carving the first block to the last stitch.
How it was made
Print
Pressed by hand with carved wooden blocks, one colour and one block at a time.
Made
Cut and sewn in our workshops in Jaipur & Delhi. We are Sedex certified.
Gives
A$10,000 every month to two women's charities in India. Where it goes
23 essays
The craft library
Essays on how Indian cloth is printed, woven, tied and dyed, and on the places and people that keep these skills. Most of our prints are hand block printed. Our own pieces are not coloured with natural dyes.
Start here
Printing
Hand block printing
One of the world's oldest and most enduring textile arts, hand block printing transforms plain cloth into something quietly extraordinary ~ one impression at a time.
8 minute read
One
Printing
Carved wood, colour and a long table.
A history of block printing
From the ancient cities of the Indus Valley to the workshops of modern Rajasthan, hand block printing has endured for over four millennia ~ surviving empires, bans, industrialisation, and neglect to remain one of the world's great textile traditions.
10 minute read
Sanganer printing
In a small town on the outskirts of Jaipur, a printing tradition of extraordinary delicacy has flourished for centuries. Sanganer is where fine floral motifs meet luminous white cloth ~ and where Daughters of India finds its creative home.
9 minute read
Two
Colour
How cloth takes colour, then and now.
Understanding textile dyes
From the first indigo vat to the modern dye house, the story of colour in cloth is a story of human ingenuity, trade, science, and consequence. Understanding the spectrum of textile dyes ~ what they are, where they come from, and what they leave behind ~ is the first step toward making mindful choices about the clothes we wear.
5 minute read
The natural dyes of India
For thousands of years, Indian dyers drew their colours from the land itself ~ from roots pulled at dawn, from leaves crushed in stone mortars, from minerals dug from river beds. This is the palette that clothed empires and crossed oceans, and its knowledge still lives in the hands of artisans today.
9 minute read
Three
Cloth
Woven, tied and dyed by hand.
Handloom weaving
India has more than four million handloom households. It is the second largest source of employment in the country after agriculture. The handloom is not a relic ~ it is a living, breathing part of how India clothes itself and the world.
9 minute read
Bandhani
In this ancient tie-resist art, fabric is pinched into tiny peaks and bound with thread ~ thousands of times ~ before being submerged in dye. When the threads are removed, a constellation of dots emerges, forming flowers, waves, and geometries of quiet precision.
8 minute read
Four
History & place
Where these crafts come from.
Indian textiles through history
From the cotton fields of the Indus Valley to the workshops of modern Rajasthan, the story of Indian textiles is a story of invention, beauty, exploitation, and renewal. It spans five thousand years, and it is not over yet.
8 minute read
The chintz trade
In the 17th and 18th centuries, Indian hand-printed cotton became so wildly popular in Europe that governments banned it. France outlawed chintz in 1686 ~ violators faced prison, galley slavery, even death. It is perhaps the greatest compliment ever paid to a textile.
8 minute read
Five
Making & keeping
How our pieces are made, and how to look after them.
Slow fashion
Slow fashion is not a trend, a marketing term, or a passing phase. It is a way of thinking about clothing ~ where it comes from, who made it, and what it costs beyond the price tag.
7 minute read
The people who make our cloth
Women are the backbone of the global garment industry ~ yet they remain among its most vulnerable workers. In India, the story of textiles is inseparable from the story of women.
8 minute read
