WHERE TIME SLOWS AND ART AWAKENS

A 400-year-old craft, hand-pressed on 100% cotton. GI-protected since 2010.

Every Threadkalaa textile is pressed by hand on 100% long-staple cotton in Sanganer — the village 13 km south of Jaipur where the world's finest hand-block printing has been practised since the 1600s.

In 2010, the Government of India registered Sanganeri Hand Block Printing under the Geographical Indications Act (Application 139), protecting what you now hold. No digital print. No screen print. No shortcut. Only wooden blocks, natural pigments, soft river water, and the hands of nine generations of master craftsmen.

The Village of Sanganer

13 km south of Jaipur · Soft river water · 400 years of pressing

Sanganer sits on the banks of a tributary of the ancient Saraswati river. Its water is soft, mineral-light, and famously receptive to natural dyes — which is why the Rajput kings of the 17th century brought master printers here from Gujarat and Sindh.

The soft water lets each pigment bond to the fibre without harshness, giving Sanganeri prints their signature clarity and depth.

Today, every Threadkalaa bedsheet, dohar, and curtain is printed, dyed, and sun-set within a 3 km radius of this village — most of it inside family workshops older than the Republic of India itself.

Carving the Blocks

3 to 15 days per piece · Teak and sheesham · Up to 7 blocks per motif

Every print begins with a wooden block carved by a chhipa master — a profession that passes father-to-son through the printing families of Sanganer. A simple geometric motif takes 3 days. A complex floral repeat with 5 to 7 overlapping blocks can take 15 days or more.

The wood is seasoned teak or sheesham, chosen for its grain stability. The carver works with chisels no wider than 1 mm, cutting away everything that is not the pattern. One misjudged stroke and the entire block is discarded.

A finished block weighs between 400 g and 1.2 kg, and in the hands of its printer it will press up to 400 impressions on a single queen-size bedsheet.

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The Fabric — 100% Cotton, Three Weights

We print on three cotton bases, each matched to its purpose:

Percale 220 TC — crisp, cool, long-staple cotton for our hand-block printed bedsheets. The 220 thread-count percale weave is the Jaipur standard: breathable in summer heat, soft on the skin, and holds a 7-block repeat without bleed.

Mulmul (90–110 GSM) — the whisper-light muslin cotton of Rajasthan, used in our dohars and summer razais. Three to six layers of mulmul are hand-stitched together to make a dohar that drapes rather than weighs.

Cotton canvas (200–250 GSM) — for curtains and cushion covers, where the print must stand up to light and daily touch.

Every bolt is pre-washed before printing, so your bedsheet will not shrink after its first wash at home.

The Dyes — Azo-free, IS 7880 Certified

Our dye chemistry is tested against IS 7880 — the Indian Standard for textile dyes safe on human skin, including children's skin. Every batch is azo-free, free of banned aromatic amines, and free of heavy-metal mordants.

For our heritage range, we use the five dyes of Sanganer:

• Indigo (indigofera tinctoria) for the blues
• Madder root (manjistha) for the deep reds and corals
• Pomegranate rind (anar chaal) for the yellows and tans
• Iron water (kasis) for the deep greys and blacks
• Harde (chebulic myrobalan) as the mordant that binds colour to fibre

Each dye is mixed by hand in copper vats and tested on a swatch of the day's fabric before the main run begins.

The Printing & The Finish

400+ presses per queen bedsheet · Sun-set · River-washed · Hand-ironed

The chhipa (printer) stands at a padded wooden table 12 feet long. Beside him is a tray of dye and the wooden block.

He dips. He presses. He lifts. He moves — exactly one block-width across. The next press must align within half a millimetre or the pattern breaks. A queen-size bedsheet takes 400+ presses, over 4 to 6 hours of standing work. No screen. No machine. No re-do.

Then the magic begins. The printed fabric is laid flat on the Sanganer sand, in the open sun, for 48 to 72 hours. The sun oxidises the dye and the breeze locks it into the fibre. No kiln, no heat-set, no chemical fixer.

Afterwards, the bolt is washed three times in Sanganer's soft water — the ancient trick that gives these prints their famous rinse-fast colour-fastness. Finally, each piece is hand-ironed, folded, and inspected before it crosses our gate.

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The Hands Behind Every Press

Nine generations. That is how long the printing families of Sanganer have been pressing cloth for Rajasthan — and now for the world.

Our master chhipa — the senior printer in our partner workshop — has been pressing blocks for over 40 years. He trained his two sons the same way his father trained him. Our senior dyer runs the five natural-dye vats and tests every batch on his own hands before approving it. Our washing team works in open courtyards where the laundry rhythm has not changed since the time of Maharaja Jai Singh II.

We do not use middlemen. Every rupee of fabric cost goes directly to the family-run workshops of Sanganer — because the craft only survives when the craftsman is paid fairly.

GI-Protected · Fairly Made · Freely Shown

Government of India Geographical Indications registry, 2010. Application number 139. Sanganeri Hand Block Printing is one of only 400+ Indian crafts protected under the GI Act — a legal guarantee that what you buy was made where it claims to be made, by the community that has always made it.

Our workshop is open. If you are ever in Jaipur, you are welcome to visit the Sanganer workshop where every Threadkalaa textile is printed. Watch the chhipa at the table, meet the dyer at the vat, and leave with the certainty that your bedsheet is not a thing — it is a tapestry of time, pressed by hand, made to be treasured.

Email us at care@threadkalaa.com or WhatsApp us to arrange a visit.