05 October,2025 10:06 AM IST | Mumbai | Nasrin Modak Siddiqi
The Rambagh Palace was an opulent backdrop for the show
Last month, as Jaipur's skies filled with monsoon promise, Barwara House in Civil Lines unveiled Designer Punit Balana's new 3000-sq-ft store. Wrapped in greenery and old-world charm, the space blends minimalist design with craft-rich detail - terracotta and olive tones, arched doorways, and layered accents. Inside, Balana revisits his signature silhouettes, colours, and techniques, reinterpreting Rajasthan's heritage for the modern woman who values expressive, functional, and timeless occasion wear.
That evening, the majestic Rambagh Palace became a stage for craft and storytelling as Balana unveiled his festive collection, Amer. Ananya Panday closed the show in a silk gulabi gulal lehenga embroidered with chaandi tille ka kaam, while Diana Penty - his first muse - watched from the front row alongside Bhumi Pednekar, Gurfateh Pirzada, and Sunny Kaushal. Marking ten years of his work, the show was less a runway and more a homecoming.
The label remains deeply tied to Jaipur, with its weave and print echoing Rajasthan's craft legacy - its art, architecture, music, and textile traditions. Amer draws from the Amer Fort, its intricate details and timeless grandeur reimagined in coin embroidery, chaandi tille ka kaam, and gota patti. These crafts find fresh relevance in contemporary silhouettes, striking the balance that defines Balana's work.
"When I first began, the challenge was to take something centuries old and make it feel at home on a modern runway. With baandhani, for example, we work with the same tie-dye precision artisans have practised for generations, but reimagine it in structured jackets or draped skirts. Zardozi, too, once heavy and opulent, I reinterpret with restraint - metallic threads in lighter motifs so the embroidery shines without overwhelming. For me, it's about respecting the hand, but rewriting the language for today's pace of life," he says.
One of the highlights of the show was a segment inspired by the Sheesh Mahal, where chaandi tille ka kaam - a contemporary nod to Rajasthan's famed tikri mirror work - reimagined reflective inlay as feather-light silver embroidery. Traditionally, chaandi tilla (chaandi means silver, tilla means thread) is prized for its luminous shimmer, worked into florals, vines, and jaali patterns on silk, velvet, or muslin. Unlike the heavier zari or zardozi, it carries a delicacy and restraint, celebrated for finesse rather than opulence.
The craft itself is centuries old. References to gold and silver threadwork appear as early as the Rigveda and the Ramayana, but it was under Mughal patronage that chaandi tilla came into its own. The Ain-i-Akbari describes karkhanas where artisans wove "gold and silver-wrought cloth", while royal ateliers across Rajasthan, Awadh, and Kashmir perfected regional interpretations such as tilla dozi. Surviving 17th- and 18th-century robes, lehengas, and pichwais in collections such as the Calico Museum in Ahmedabad and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London still bear witness to their luminous refinement.
Its lineage lives on through the tilla karigars of Lucknow and Jaipur, many of whom come from families which have practised the art for generations. Designs are traced onto fabric stretched on wooden frames, then embroidered with the aari (hooked needle), as flattened silver wires are couched carefully into place and enhanced with coils (dabka), beads (nakshi), and sequins. The process is painstaking, but the result is a fabric that seems to catch and hold light.
Today, pure silver threads are reserved for the most luxurious pieces, while plated and imitation versions make the technique more widely accessible. Awarded a GI tag in 2013 as part of Lucknow Zardozi, chaandi tilla has been embraced by designers who weave it into modern silhouettes, ensuring that what once shimmered in royal courts now glimmers on runways.
Balana's bond with Jaipur and its artisans runs deep. "When I began, just a handful of karigars and their families stood by me. They are the ones who turn vision into reality, and that's why we work like one big family," he says.
On the runway, silhouettes moved easily between past and present - kedia sets, cropped blouses, short ghaghris, flared lehengas, and layered skirts paired with fitted styles, off-shoulder blouses, pre-draped drapes, and playful separates. In a decade, the label has carved a space defined by craft, comfort, and a modern reading of tradition. What began in a small atelier in Jaipur returned to the city as a full-circle moment, stitched together with craft and memory.
