When reflecting on what separates April Cornell from any other apparel and linens company, I have to think that our Indian influence and use of traditional handcraft has something to do with it. Instead of a typical home tip this week, I thought I would tell you a little bit about some of these wonderful techniques steeped in rich culture and tradition.
Handblock: Carved wooden blocks create the beautiful patterns in many of our silk scarves, tunics, and linens. Different blocks are used for each color, so the more colors and detail you see in a pattern, the greater the difficulty in creating the print. As you can imagine this makes placement of each hand block critical! Hand
block printing is traditionally done by men in artisan communities, a craft technique that is handed down from father to son for generations.
Zardozi: Zardozi in an extraordinary embroidery embellishment traditionally done with real gold and silver coils and thread. Today substitution of other metals allows
the same techniques to be applied to garments. Zardozi trimmings were originally saved for clothes of India’s Maharaja and Maharani (Indian royalty) and many of these exquisite antiques live on in today’s museums and fine
textile collections.
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