Handmade chikankari from Lucknow to you. Every piece carries the maker's hand in it.
Chikankari isn't one embroidery — it's over thirty distinct stitches. We group our pieces by the technique used, not just the garment.
Bakhiya — "shadow work" — is chikankari's signature stitch, and its most difficult. It's worked entirely from the wrong side of the fabric, in a herringbone path the embroiderer can't see from the front. Held up to the light, the thread falls into a soft, translucent shadow on the right side — a technique unique to chikankari, found nowhere else in Indian embroidery.
Every Shahnisa piece is hand-embroidered by artisans in Lucknow, most of them women working from home — the same cottage-industry model that has sustained this craft for four centuries.
"The bakhiya work on my kurta is unlike anything I've bought before — you can genuinely see the shadow effect they talk about. Fits true to size too."
"Ordered the Jaali Anarkali for a wedding and got so many compliments. The lattice work is incredibly fine — you can tell it's hand-done."
"My go-to for gifting now. The packaging alone feels premium, and the murri work holds up beautifully after multiple washes."