If you have heard of Amnibad Market, you are sure to have come across Lucknow’s vibrant street shopping culture.
A bustling market, this area is well known for its Chinkari garments, perfumes, traditional jewellery and handicrafts. Authentic chinkari is known to be handmade and has intricate stitches that display the sheer artistry of the work.
Mainly having 32 stitches, chinkari is one of Lucknow’s best-known textile decoration styles. 5 basic stitches in Chinkari are known to be phanda: small circular dot, jaali, hool, bakhiya, and tepchi i.e. the running stitch.
Owing to certain financial difficulties at home, Nitesh Agarwal had to drop out of school and started Triveni Chikan Arts when he was just 19 years old.
Now a global business earning over 3 crores, let’s talk with this global traveller and businessman, Nitesh:
KARINA PANDYA TALKS TO GLOBAL TRAVELLER AND BUSINESSMAN NITESH AGARWAL:
Q1) What is Chikan arts?
1)- Chikan is a delicate and artfully done hand embroidery done on a variety of textile fabrics such as cotton, changer, muslin, georgette, silk, organza, net, etc. Chikan is not only an art but also a provider to more than 2 Lac artisans and their families which supports them in their livelihood. It is the most cherished and sought-after form of embroidery in India. The Chikan embroidery tradition in India has been around for about 400 years and is believed to have originated from Persian craft.
Q2) What did you choose to make a career in this industry?
It was hard to choose the Chikan garments manufacturing company. I never thought of pursuing this. Over time, I realised that there is a lot of potential in this field and there is lots to learn, lots to help, and a lot of people there who need to get work.
Q3) What is so special about Chikani garments?
Its hand hand-embroidered work is done by several artisans on 1 piece of garment to make 1 single garment. It takes months to prepare, right from the process of cutting, stitching, hand buttoning printing, embroidery by artisans, washing, and finishing packaging and the main part of doing all this is also transportation. It not only creates jobs, it also empowers women, not only women in big cities are contributing, but women in villages have been contributing for a long time, which very few amount of people recognize.
when you are wearing a Chikan hand-embroidered dress it not only looks good, it has a lot of things covered behind the preparation of that article and when a person wears it, they get a different aura.
Q4) What is the scope of this business?
We are the only industry in the entire world that is doing this kind of embroidery. With over 2 lac artisans in the Lucknow radius, we don’t see or face any competition from any part of the world, and no one in the world can adopt this heritage ART.
It also takes a lot of time and patience to prepare these garments. There is tremendous scope for good business and in Lucknow Chikan’s work is increasing day by day.
Q5) In how many places globally have you expanded?
We started our business of export from Asia, and now we have exported to more than 40 countries
Q6) What are your plans for this industry and to expand?
We are planning to open our stores very soon in some Asian & Middle Eastern countries and then maybe expand to some of Latin America, USA, and Europe
