Aari is an ancient form of embroidery much patronized in the Moghul courts since the 14th century. The aari craftsman may take more than 10 years to master this extremely fine craft.
Aari craftsmen carry with them memories of royal patronage. Their simple tools embroidered elaborate gardens on the garments of kings and queens.
After the Moghul Empire began to decline, these craftsmen scattered to other smaller courts around India. Their clients were smaller nobles and zamindars (or landlords). In West Bengal, there is a village of these craftsmen in Howrah, who settled there several generations ago.
Today they work mostly for traders in Calcutta who order work for resale. Over the years, the fineness of the craft declined, because people wanted more work for less money. The only way to achieve this was to do coarser work. The designs too were completely governed by the market and the old court memories began to recede. Also men stopped wearing these finely worked garments and today, these craftsmen embroider almost totally for women.
Though the embroidery is not always done on fine silks anymore, there has been an attempt to revive the fineness and intricacy of the stitches. So that even if a bag or cushion cover has only a small motif, it is done with the same care and precision as a motif on a royal coat.
There is the belief that only a craftsman with 25 years of experience can do really good work. Aari craftsmen begin training very young - from when they are 10 years old, and become fully qualified when they are around 30. They also believe that women cannot do this kind of work because it takes so much training, and women would only get married and take their skill away with them.
