Pakistan · Embroidery / Textile
پھلکاری (Phulkari)
Phulkari (پھلکاری — 'flower work') is the embroidery tradition of the Punjab — practiced on both sides of the 1947 Partition line, in both Pakistani and Indian Punjab. Pakistani phulkari uses a darning stitch worked from the reverse of the cloth — the needle passes under specific warp threads from the back, and the pattern appears on the front through the accumulated thread covering the warp threads from below. The result is a surface of solid colored thread with no ground cloth visible — unlike most embroidery where the ground is part of the design. The defining technical knowledge is warp thread counting: the darning stitch passes under exactly the same number of warp threads in each row — one mistake in the warp count produces a diagonal disruption across the entire field. 'Count is everything; if I lose count, I lose the flower.'
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Pakistan national ICH list; cross-border nomination with India under consideration
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