About Block Printing
The History of Block Printing
Block printing is one of India's oldest and most celebrated textile traditions, with roots stretching back over 500 years in Rajasthan. Originating with the Chhipa community of craftsmen, it was born in the villages surrounding Jaipur, where entire communities built their lives around the trade, passing recipes for natural dyes and patterns for carved blocks from one generation to the next.
In its earliest form, block printing was the preserve of royalty. The rich, jewel-toned textiles that emerged from Rajasthan's workshops were prized by the Maharajas, and the motifs that defined them, were drawn from the natural world and from the Persian influences that moved through the region.
Today, the workshops remain largely family-run, often occupying the same buildings for generations. It is a living tradition, and one that continues to sustain entire communities of makers.
The Process of Block Printing
Block printing is slow, methodical work. It begins with the blocks themselves — a master carver takes a flat slab of sheesham wood and slowly chips away at it with precise strokes to carve the pattern. For designs using multiple colours, a separate block must be carved for each one. Once carved, the blocks are soaked in mustard oil for weeks to prevent warping — in many workshops, the finest are kept for decades.
The fabric is then washed and stretched flat, before the dyes are prepared. Recipes are often closely guarded within families, passed from generation to generation. Indigo, pomegranate and turmeric are among the traditional sources, producing the rich palette that defines textiles from Jaipur.
Then comes the printing: each block is dipped into dye and pressed onto the fabric by hand, section by section, colour by colour, until the pattern comes to life. Once finished, the fabric is dried, steamed to set the colour, washed, and hung out in the Indian sun.
What no machine can replicate are the subtle irregularities, the slight shifts in colour, the faint impression of the block's edge. These are not imperfections, they are the mark of a human hand, and what gives each piece its own individual character.