Phulkari

Phulkari (Gurmukhi: ਫੁਲਕਾਰੀ; Shahmukhi: پھلکاری, meaning "art of flowers") refers to the folk embroidery of the Punjab region and Gulkari of Sindh in South Asia. It is an artwork traditionally created by women.

Although phulkari means 'floral work', the designs include not only flowers but also cover motifs and geometrical shapes. The main characteristics of phulkari embroidery are use of darn stitch on the wrong side of coarse cotton cloth with coloured silken thread.

Traditional phulkaris are large items of cloth and in the broad sense include chope, tilpatr, neelak, and bagh. In the narrow sense, a phulkari is specifically a shawl sparingly embroidered with flowers, where the base cloth is still visible, while an intricately embroidered flower pattern that covers the entire garment is a bagh ('garden').

The craft of phulkari has undergone changes over the centuries. According to Pal (1960), the traditional method of embroidering a phulkari and its widespread use in Punjab, India, declined by the 1950s. Traditionally, women would embroider phulkaris without using stencils. Pal (1960) states that women would clean their courtyards and invite friends and family to ceremonially begin the process of embroidering a phulkari. Folk songs would be sung on this occasion. "Ih Phulkari Meri Maan Ne Kadhi / Is Noo Ghut Ghut Japhiyan Paawan" ('This Phulkari was embroidered by my mother, I embrace it warmly'). Folk songs like these are indicative of the emotional attachment the girl had to the Phulkari embroidered by her mother or grandmother, or aunts.

Phulkari and bagh embroidery has influenced the embroidery of Gujarat known as heer bharat in its use of geometrical motifs and stitchery. Historically, these art forms were practised in the villages of Punjab. The arts of phulkari and bagh are in decline in the 21st century, and fewer women know how to create them.