Crafts

Culture is the speciality of New Delhi and whole of India. Delhi boasts its rich tradition and sound cultural values. The rich heritage and culture can be seen in the lifestyle, demography, art, crafts and music. Delhi being the capital of India has many art and craft galleries along with auditoriums that host regular cultural events.

Crafts

Craftsmanship has always been the specialty of Delhi. Mainly the most practiced crafts work range from silver and gold enameling to the traditional embroidery work, also called zari.

Artistic work on potteries, wooden toys, kite making and polish crafts are still existent in the city’s art and crafts culture. Having a round in the Old Delhi area would let you realize the importance of this craftsmanship because you will find various shops dealing in art and crafts items. Handicrafts can be found at Delhi Haat, at the state emporiums in Baba Khadak Singh Marg and Crafts Museum in Pragati Maidan.

Mughals were great clientele of arts and crafts during their reign of Old Delhi, also called Shahjajanabad. Collection of masterpiece craftsmanship can be found at the Matia Mahal’s Pahadi Bhoja with shops selling fashionable jewelry, bangles and necklaces made out of exquisite crafts work. These shops are run by the decedents of ancestral artists who specialized in ivory craftsmanship. However, with the ban on ivory, these craftsmen had to use bones of buffaloes and camels as alternatives.

Embroidery is one of the popular crafts works with golden thread embroidery, which is called Zardozi. Craftsmen also work on complex design with silk and velvet. Thin silver sheets used to wrap sweets are made by these craftsmen who beat silver to make thin sheets of silver. You can still find these craftsmen in the Matia Mahal area of New Delhi.

Another very famous work that was popular during old days of Shahjahanabad is the Meenakari work done on gold or silver. Meenakari is basically embossing paint on gold and silver in an artistic manner so that it resembles a precious stone.

Lacquer craftsmanship on bangles is still very popular among females who love adoring these pieces that have small pieces of glass embossed with bright shades of colors and golden borders that add to the beauty of these bangles.

Incense sticks that are made of attars (perfumes) or brass are also very popular in the craftsmanship of Delhi.

However, change in colonial rule and other instabilities in Delhi forced these craftsmen to choose different options. So, some of them moved to Rajasthan while craftsmen who made bangles from lac migrated to Hyderabad.