Ishraqi Designs

Company Description

Ishraqi Designs produce handmade traditional ralli quilts made by the women artisans of desert Tharparker, Sindh Pakistan. Ralli quilting is one of the oldest textiles of South Asia.
It is a very encouraging moment for us because our artisans' designed ralli quilts were selected for International Folk art Market, Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2006 and 2007. One of our handcrafted patchwork ralli quilts is also on exhibition at Textile Museum of Canada.
A normal Ralli Quilt is a textile jewel finished with physical and spiritual labour or done with hand and mind putting in almost 180 hours, 10800 minutes or 648, 000 seconds of labour by a woman artisan.
In ancient Indus civilization, a Ralli Quilt was also a textile currency like other valuables. Woman start making Ralli Quilts in early age as part of their dowry. The poor artisans used to make Ralli Quilt as gifts for the occasion of marriages and births of the elite families. In return, they were given a buffalow, a cow or a goat as "Kheer Piyarini", or to provide a permanent milk source for the artisan's family. This tradition continues in Sindh, especially in Thar desert too.
The textile craft lovers can now order the Ralli Quilt artisans living thousands of miles away to make a dream piece for them while sitting in their offices or homes. It is just a rebirth of "Kheer Piyarini" tradition. You can order now Ralli Quilt Gift Sets for a baby before his birth or for the wedding of your loved ones.
Let the Thar desert artisans also share this beautiful world.