Kalamkari The word ‘kalamkari’ is a conjoint of kalam (pen) and kari (work). In practice, this is a craft in which a textile is hand-painted with a kalam — a bamboo stick honed to a point at one end — using vegetable and mineral dyes. The dyes are used to block print cloth, too. The craft has been prevalent across traditional textile centres of India — Machilipatnam and Srikalahasti in Andhra Pradesh are two well-known examples. Another centre that has been instrumental in popularising kalamkari is the Craft Education and Research Centre (CERC), a division of Kalakshetra in Chennai. In its subdivision of the Kalamkari Unit, saris, bedspreads, salwar-kameez sets...
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