Abdul Razak Khatri

Shri KHATRI ABDUL RAZAK MOHMED was born in 1958 at Dhamadka, Gujarat in the family of traditional hand block printers of Ajarakh . His father Shri Mohmed Sidik Khatri a renowned National Award Winner trained his son in the field of block printing

Shri ABDULRAZAK KHATRI took his primary education up to 7th standard and become an expert hand block designer and printer at an early age of 16. Since the last 35 years he has been engaged in the art of producing fine block printed fabric with many variations of colour experimenting with various natural dyes. Today, his main focus is on the technical development in the field and reviving old designs and creating new blocks.

Craft: Ajrakh Block Printing

Method and Material:

Printed on both sides in the dominant shades of indigo and madder, and characterized by their use of mordanting and multiple dyeing techniques, the ajrakh textiles derive their name from the Arabic word azrak, meaning blue. The richly printed surface of ajrakh fabric is achieved through a highly evolved process of scouring, mordanting, printing, lime, resist printing, multiple dyeing in indigo and manjistha (red) and washing. It is dyed and printed with vegetable and mineral colors. The colors of the ajrakh are believed to be such that they are cooling in the heat and warming in the cold.

Ajrakh was traditionally worn as a Lungi (men's lower garment), safa (a head covering) or as malir (the skirt fabric for women).