What Is Ajrakh? The Ancient Block-Print Craft Behind Our Kaftans

At Gul, several of our kaftans begin not with fabric, but with a wooden block, a vat of natural dye, and a craftsperson who learned the work from their parents. That craft is called Ajrakh — and it's one of the oldest forms of block printing in the world.

A craft thousands of years old

Ajrakh has been practised for centuries across the region that today spans Kutch in Gujarat, parts of Rajasthan, and Sindh. It is traditionally the work of the Khatri community — families who have passed the technique from one generation to the next. The name is often linked to azrak, an old word for blue or indigo, the colour at the very heart of the craft.

Made by resist, not by machine

What makes Ajrakh special is that the pattern is built up entirely by hand, in stages, using hand-carved wooden blocks and a resist paste. Where the artisan wants the cloth to stay pale, they stamp on a paste that “resists” the dye. The fabric is then dyed, washed, sun-dried, and printed again — layer over layer — to build the deep, glowing geometry Ajrakh is known for.

A single piece can pass through this cycle many times, washed in water, beaten, and dried in the open air between stages. From start to finish, a length of true Ajrakh can take days, sometimes weeks.

Colours drawn from the earth

Classic Ajrakh relies on natural dyes: indigo for blue, madder root for red and rust, and a range of earthy tones drawn from plants and minerals. These are the colours, as we like to say, that your great-grandmother knew. Because they are natural, no two batches are ever identical — and that is exactly the point.

Why no two pieces are alike

Hand-carved blocks, hand-mixed dyes, sun-drying, washing by hand: every step introduces small variations. A slight shift in a motif, a deeper pool of indigo in one corner — these are not flaws. They are the fingerprint of the person who made the cloth. When you wear Ajrakh, you wear the time and the hands that went into it.

Ajrakh at Gul

We bring Ajrakh into pieces made to be worn now — most often on fluid modal silk, which lets the print drape and move beautifully. Our Riwayat and Lehren kaftans both carry hand-block-printed Ajrakh, made in small batches by artisans in India.

To see the craft for yourself, explore our kaftan collection — or read our story to learn why slow, handmade craft sits at the centre of everything we do.