Silver Block Print Flower on Chanderi Cotton Silk Shawl, "Floral Morning"

Silver bouquets blossom with the timeless artistry highlighted in the design of this shawl by Priti. The shiny flower patterns are block-printed by hand with varaq, extremely thin foil threads, which are pounded by hand through a labor-intensive process that can take up to 4 hours to make - if it's not raining. The peach-hued wrap is woven with a silk weft and a cotton warp, resulting in crisp, glossy sheer textures.

Nowadays, authentic varaq printing is done by a few artisans solely in Jaipur. Named after a city in Madhya Pradesh, chanderi fabrics can be traced back to Vedic times; however, it was not until the 1970's that the cotton and silk blend fabric was developed.