Monday, October 24, 2011

Celebrating heritage through motif designs

Celebrating heritage through motif designs


The legacy continues at East World Market design studio

The traditional crafts are found in every region of Pakistan with rich Mughal style and Islamic art form. With its emphasis on perfect synchronization, perfect balance and correct depicted floral and geometric patterns is predominated in Pakistani designs. It can be seen in different form of architecture to textile. Window and door grills and gates in Pakistan has very distinguished patterns so is the glazed tiles of different motifs found in pre and post historical period of Mughals, Indus civilization, Gandhara Civilization ,Islamic Period and Sikh Period.

Some of the most prominent designs are

Carrey or Paisley motif

This Is a droplet shaped vegetable (mango seed) motif and that also filled with geometrical lines and patterns sometimes it’s also called as Persian pickles. This is a very popular design in other countries also like Iran, India and central Asian countries. Paisley designs are used using gold or silver threads on silk and other textile. In Pakistan, these pattern are widely termed as the Carrey ,it’s the mango sometime also called as Ambia or Ambi.

Jaldar (netted) Motif
This is a repetition of the geometric motif. Mostly using circle, square, triangle and lines

Then there are motifs according to the regions

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Mirror and thread work

Tie dye or Bandhani

Tie and dye is one of the traditional dyeing styles in Pakistan, one of traditional form of tie dying began some 5000 years ago and called as bandhani or Chunri. This technique involves tying small dots with thread all over the fabric to create designs and motifs. After tying the fabric is dyed then the ties are removed and a beautiful pattern form on the fabric. Most popular material to use is cotton as its soft and easy to handle but now a day more fabric are used like silk, georgette, chiffon and Katan. 
Let me tell you the method how the artisans of East World Market make beautiful scarves.

Spice box or Masala ka dabbah

                                            Treasures from East


                                     Spice Box or Masala ka dabbah

Pakistan cuisine has its distinctive flavors .The magic of Pakistani cooking is in the blending of spices. All spices have a particular function in a recipe. While some spices are for aroma, some are for flavor and some give body to your creations. Spice blends differ by region. One factor that influences the blend of spices for each region is the climate. In cold climates there is heavy use of spices that create heat, such as fennel, saffron and ginger powder. To stores these spices in a little box made of stainless steel or copper filled with all kind of spices and use to give Pakistani cuisine its distinctive flavors.