Masters of the craft
Every craft on this site was carried through the generations by particular people and families. Here are some of them, region by region, as newspapers, books and institutions have recorded them.
About these portraits
They're written from published sources, listed at the end of the page. We haven't spoken to these makers, and they haven't joined the site, so there are no contact details here. Where the record describes a craft only through its community, we've written about the community. If you're one of these makers or know them, we'd love to hear from you.
Ajrak runs in families: each Khatri family keeps its own recipes, so the steps and even the names of the materials differ from one lineage to the next. Printers carried the craft from Sindh to Kutch, and in Sindh it lives on in towns such as Bhit Shah, where one workshop described a batch as taking 40 days. [6] [7]
Read: How ajrak is made →Hala's potters have worked the same craft for generations, often with one person taking a piece through all of its 20 or so steps. Hala's kilns fired the tiles for the 93 domes of the Shah Jahan Mosque at Thatta. [8] [9]
Read: Hala and Bhit Shah →More than 60 years in the craft, with a Presidential award and a UNESCO award. When pollution made the old river clay unusable, he moved Multani pottery to a ceramic body, and he runs an institute about 10 km from Multan on Bahawalpur Road. He learned from Mian Allah Wasaya, and Mian Rahim Bux and Ustad Allah Diaya are remembered among Multan's other great kashigars. [1]
Read: Multani blue pottery →A craft gallery opposite the shrine of Shah Rukn-e-Alam, where kashigari pottery and painted camel-skin naqashi are kept alive through an unbroken line from master to student. [2]
Read: A craft day in Multan →Masters of the manabat kari style of carving, they did much of the woodwork of the Omar Hayat Mahal, a mansion built in Chiniot between 1923 and 1935 by artisans who worked on it for about ten years. It is now a cultural centre and library, though parts of it are in disrepair. [3]
An expert in natural dyes, who has trained his family and many other textile artisans. He showed his work at Lok Mela in Islamabad in 2022. [4]
He opened his shop in Peshawar's old Namak Mandi market in 1976. His custom-made, double-soled sandals are sought by celebrities, parliamentarians and officials, and in 2019 he made two pairs as a gift for the Saudi crown prince's visit to Pakistan. [5]
Read: The Peshawari chappal →A lacquer worker whose skills were passed down from his father, a master lacquer craftsman who received the Pride of Performance award. [4]
Tens of thousands of Baloch women embroider professionally as dochgirs, often for hours once the housework is done, and the skill passes from mother to daughter. At Lok Mela in 2022, two Baloch embroiderers showed work they had practised for 30 to 35 years, learned from their mothers. [10] [4]
Read: Handmade gifts from Pakistan →Iraghi, silk on thick cotton, is Gilgit-Baltistan's finest embroidery, and a single cap takes months. In 2016 Pamir Times reported that hardly any of the older generation who could teach it were still alive in Ghizer, with organisations such as KADO working to preserve it. [11]
Read: Handmade gifts from Pakistan →Know a master we should write about, or spot something we got wrong? Tell us.