Inara means illuminating or shining in Arabic. At Inara, our modest goal is to shine some light on Chikankari, one of the most exquisite embroidery traditions from the Indian subcontinent. We wish to do that by expanding applications of Chikankari beyond clothing. 

Chikankari probably started sometime in the early eighteenth century in Murshidabad, Bengal. The apocryphal story of Chikankari’s  origin starts from an anonymous princess of Murshidabad who created the most luxurious needlework on the finest ever woven muslin to make a cap for her king. This seemed to have set a trend among palace women of Murshidabad and Lucknow. Chikankari originated in Murshidabad, but the art flourished in the Nawabs’ court in Lucknow. Chikan became associated with wealth, taste, delicacy and even respect and power. Chikankari is synonymous with Lucknow today. It is notable that Inara’s founders- Polin and Enayet Kabir are from Lucknow and Murshidabad respectively which they consider as a Karmic connection!!

Inara today works with a cluster located at the village of Khushal Ganj about 20 KM from Lucknow. Here knowledge and skills of Chikankari are passed down the generations and the art is mastered over many years. Our artisans are adept at all the Chikan needlework styles like Phanda, Jaali, Tepchi, Murri and Bakhia to name a few. Ckikan making has three broad steps- Making blocks and printing the fabric, needlework and sewing and lastly washing the fabric to remove the block colours. The first and the last steps are done by men but the key task of needlework is done by our women artisans.

Inara’s Founder, Polin is from Lucknow, where she grew up seeing Chikankari all around her.  But it always struck her that this art, so dear to our hearts, is mostly limited to clothing. She always felt it deserved more and should have wider applications.

As a nomadic Military wife, she had to move places every few years across India, never staying in one place for long, preventing Polin from settling into a profession for the long term. Then, the pandemic hit, and amidst all the chaos, it gave her an opportunity to think deeply about the calling she always had with Indian textiles and craft.  That's when the idea of Chikankari lampshades came to her. She created these lamps which reflected her taste- a marriage between classicism & modernism. She took them to market and people loved it! 

Polin has been growing Inara in B2C space, Govt sector and social community for over a year and It made her realise that there's real potential here - not just for a business, but to support the artisans who bring these beautiful creations to life. She is currently expanding the Inara product line to include home linen infused with Chikankari accents. Her joy is shared by her artisans who loved working their magic on her innovative designs and bringing them to life. It's moments like these that make it all worthwhile.