We at Shaams have a very rich history of hand embroidery. The onslaught of machine embroidery which everyone had predicted would wipe out the livelihood of hand embroiders has not happened. In fact, the opposite has happened. There is more demand for hand embroidered work in India and globally.
It would be interesting for our readers to know that the art of embroidery dates back to the 5th – 3rd century BC. As people became mobile, various styles of embroidery startedcropping up in different parts of the world. In the Islamic world, it became popular in places like Damascus, Cairo and Istanbul where embroidery was visible in the handkerchiefs people used. In Mughal India, towns in Lahore, Agra, Ahmedabad and Fathepur started to create fabulous embroidered work in garments. Embroidered art forms were similarly popular in China, Japan and Korea.