Know the craft

Made by hand, carried through time

Every Sequent piece starts with a South Asian textile tradition. Here's what each one is, where it comes from, and how it's made.

Where each craft began

  1. Pre-1500 BCE roots Kantha
  2. c. 3000 BCE Ajrakh
  3. 5th century CE Ikat
  4. 2,000+ years ago Hand Block Print
Kantha
Kantha running stitch on a vintage quilt jacket

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Kantha

1,000+ years of history

The name means both the running stitch and the art of patching old fabric into something new — one of South Asia's oldest surviving textile arts.

  • 3–11 layers of cloth, no padding
  • Recycled fabric: no two pieces alike
  • Light, breathable and soft to drape

How it's made

  1. 1 LayerWorn cottons and silks are stacked, flat, with no batting.
  2. 2 StitchThousands of hand running stitches bind the layers together.
  3. 3 FinishVisible patches and stitch lines become the design.
Ajrakh
Ajrakh shirt, printed with natural black and madder dyes

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Ajrakh

5,000 years of history

Hand-block resist printing coloured only with plant and mineral dyes. Mohenjo-daro's famous 'Priest-King' wears a shawl with trefoil motifs still printed today.

  • Born in the Indus Valley Civilisation
  • 14–23 steps, up to a month per cloth
  • Natural dyes only: indigo, madder, iron

How it's made

  1. 1 SoftenWashed, beaten and softened with castor oil to take dye.
  2. 2 MordantA myrobalan bath anchors the colour to the fibre.
  3. 3 Resist printCarved blocks stamp a mud-and-lime paste (dabu) that blocks dye.
  4. 4 DyeIndigo for blue, madder for red, iron for crisp black.
  5. 5 Wash & sun-dryThe paste rinses away; desert sun locks the colour in.
Ikat
Handwoven ikat shirt with resist-dyed yarn

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Ikat

2,000 years of history

'Visual mathematics': the pattern is tied and dyed into the threads before a single row is woven. India's earliest record is in the 5th-century Ajanta cave frescoes.

  • Evolved independently across Asia & the Americas
  • Pattern dyed into the yarn, not printed on
  • Woven by hand on a manual loom

How it's made

  1. 1 AlignHundreds of threads are stretched taut and bundled.
  2. 2 TieSections are bound tightly so the dye can't reach them.
  3. 3 DyeBundles are dipped; the untied threads take the colour.
  4. 4 RepeatRetie and re-dip once for every colour in the design.
  5. 5 WeaveOn the loom, the pattern lines up thread by thread.
Hand Block Print
Hand block printed rose motifs on a cotton smock dress

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Hand Block Print

2,000+ years of history

Carved wooden blocks stamped by hand, one impression at a time. Refined in Mughal workshops and still practised by Chhipa printer families in Bagru and Sanganer.

  • Bagru & Sanganer, Rajasthan
  • One hand-carved teak block per colour
  • Every motif stamped and aligned by eye

How it's made

  1. 1 CarvePethapur carvers cut the design into seasoned teak.
  2. 2 PrepareCloth is washed and soaked in harda for a warm base.
  3. 3 ColourDye is spread on a padded tray for an even coat.
  4. 4 PrintOutline first, then fillers, lined up by pitch marks.
  5. 5 FixSun-dried, steamed and washed to set the colour.

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