“Patti Ka Kaam”
“Patti Ka Kaam” brought to you byRummana and Anjum Khan –“The mother in law and daughter in law duo”This embroidery is all about bits and pieces of flowers and petals of squares and triangles. A delicate form of applique, Phoolpatti, now adorns dupattas and kurtas and saris.
Rummana Khan and her daughter in law Anjum Khan from Aligarh add to its glory and finesse with their sense of design and exquisite colour. In the process they have created the most ethereal salwar kurtas using a milange of skills such as thread embroidery kaamdani and phoolpatti in a variety of fabrics from Kota to Chanderi.
On display at Fabindia in Hyderabad is an array of ready made salwar kameezes in pastel hues of sky blue, pink, peach, lemon yellow, beige and sea green, and some in earthy hues of mustards, browns, terracotta and maroons. There is also a section where pure blacks and sheer whites hang tantalising customers with shiny mukaish work done sparingly with delicate embroidery around the edges and sleeves.
BEAUTIFUL EDGES:Rummana and Anjum Khan revived the ancient art of Phoolpatti where tiny bits of cloth are cut and deftly shaped into flowers and petals and other geometrical and floral icons and embroidered onto the fabric.
The dominant motifs are five and three petal flowers or stems with leaves and branches, tendrils, creepers and bunch of grapes. The entire embroidery is done by hand as well as the finish of joining of the seams.
Keekri is a zig zag design used at the seams; the traditional way to hand finish the garment. The limitation of using patti on organdie was preventing its growth so Rummana and Anjum bring to you a choice of fabrics and designs with patti ka kaam on various cotton fabrics, chanderi, block prints, bagh, kalamkari, leheria, kota, maheshwari, mul-mul, voile and even net. When the phoolpatti is expertly designed and embroidered around the neck sleeves and chaak areas with a touch of gold and silver the final outfit looks exquisite. No two garments are similar; there are subtle colour embroidery and fabric changes in each.
TURNING ART INTO BUSINESSRummana belongs to Lucknow and Patna and was married into one of the oldest families of Aligarh. They live in an ancestral house that occupies more than 7 acres of land. Phool patti has been the traditional art of Aligarh and often done by some of the poorest women in the city. 18 years ago Rummana began with 8 workers and made sure that she paid them the highest daily wage and priced her dupattas well and sold them quickly before starting a fresh order. Today Rummana and Anjum have roughly 600 women and young girls who work at the manufacturing unit in Aligarh in an organised fashion. Rummana and Anjum travel to Jaipur Lucknow Kota and other parts of Bihar MP and Andhra to Source fabrics. Their designs are inspired by Mughal architecture.
TASTEFUL EMBELLISHMENTS:Other embellishments in the form of gold or sliver mukaish and embroidery are added to the garments to give a pretty yet sophisticated appeal. The color combinations are Rummanas USP. Color-coding a garment is a challenging process. Most color combinations are worked out in advance.
SPREADING THEIR WINGS:Anjum is a trained graphic designer and has an inherent sense of design. She was initiated into the family business rather easily and now designs and supervises the different stages of creation and handles the marketing and public relations of their brand Rummi's. Rummana and Anjum have held exhibitions in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Jaipur, Chennai Cochin and Coimbatore. The response has always been tremendous.When Rummana started the work was limited to royalty only and the crafts people were in a state of abject poverty. The story goes that in the days gone by this work was embroidered on shalukas or camilsoles worn by the begums of nawabs.Significantly this work has by and large remained the monopoly of women right from tracers to keekri and patti workers, to seamstresses and laundry women. It has changed the lives of many women from the economically backward section of our society and many are now educating their children, something that was unheard of earlier.Rummi's provides employment to over 600 women kaarigars who are trained to ensure a high standard of quality. Rummis makes a committed effort to sustain the legacy of this mugal art.RUMMI'S WRITE UP:"'PATTI KA KAAM' is to Aligarh what Chakankari is to Lucknow" This hand embroidery is all about bits and pieces of flowers and petals of squares and triangles. A delicate form of applique, phoolpatti now adorns dupattas and saris. Rummi's of Aligarh comes to Mumbai bringing the magic of PhoolPatti or delicate applique work on fine cotton fabrics. This craft dates back to the Mughal period where little bits of fabric are cut by hand into tiny petals of myriad hues and colours and then delicately folded and stitched onto cotton material. Rummana and Anjum Khan the mother in law and daughter in law duo from Aligarh add to its glory and finesse with their sense of design and exquisite colour. In the process they have created the most ethereal shalwar kurta and dupatta sets using a milange of skills such as thread embroidery, kaamdani, phoolpatti, and aari ka kaam in a variety of fabrics. The fabric may be chanderi, voile, maheshwari, kota, mulmul, block prints and gold tissue. Rummi's is a team of 600 kaarigars who are all a part of one big family based in Aligarh tese women are trained to ensu re a high standard of quality.
Rummana began this work 18 years ago by taking it upon herself to revive this dying art of Aligarh often done by some of the poorest women in the city. Anjum is a trained graphic designer and has an inherent sense of design; she supervises the different stages of creation and handles marketing and PR of their brand Rummi's. Rummana and Anjum hold exhibitions throughout the year in Delhi, Mumbai , Bangalore, Jaipur and now Chennai.
