New Pink City Prints Collection
The Winter 23 collection from Pink City Prints has just landed in store, and we love the darkly gothic yet romantic vibe. Featuring pretty details, ruffled finishes and flattering fits on rich, dark backgrounds, the beautiful prints add some colour (but not too much) to your winter wardrobe.
Pink City Prints are our neighbours in London Fields, but their heritage is from India. The brand was founded to preserve the traditional crafts of India’s Pink City, Jaipur.
Each of their beautiful pieces are worked on by hand using techniques that have been perfected and passed down for generations. Pink City Prints supports hundreds of artisans to safeguard the age-old arts of hand embroidery, block printing and hand looming.
Block Printing
The brand’s signature style involves block printing, an ancient craft unique to the Chhipa caste in Jaipur and the surrounding areas. The technique is used to create the vibrant motifs in Pink City’s beautiful prints. Each design is drawn and carved into a wooden slab by hand. The wooden block is dipped into trays of different coloured dye, and then carefully applied to the fabric by hand. The fabric is stamped, one layer of colour at a time. The more intricate designs can require five distinct colour printings.
As the garments are handmade, there may be small variations in the patterns, giving each garment a unique character.
Hand Looming
Hand looming is a technique that produces beautifully soft and bright fabrics. Made in villages outside of Kolkata, the cotton thread is hand-spun and then hand dyed, before being delivered to the weaver’s home, where it’s woven into fabric on wooden looms.
This technique is incredibly time-consuming – it takes a whole day to produce enough fabric to make a single dress. But once finished, the fabric has a unique richness in texture.
Screen Printing
Screen printing is an ancient technique where hand drawn and cut stencils are layered on a silk or mesh screen. Ink is squeezed over the screen, creating intricate patterns on the fabric below. The process requires an in-depth understanding of how to layer the colours in each pattern, an instinct that only comes with years of experience.
Compared to plastic transfers, screen prints are durable, staying vivid and distinct for years.