Samuel Suzani Cushion, Brown

A hand-embroidered cotton cushion cover made in Jaipur in the Suzani tradition — each stitch placed by hand by a woman whose participation in a Rajasthan skills programme turned an ancient craft into an independent income and a future she is building on her own terms. Suzani — from the Persian word for needle — began in the workshops and homes of Central Asia, where women embroidered large ceremonial cloths in silk and cotton as part of a bridal tradition that encoded the maker's identity into every stitch. The tradition travelled west and south along the Silk Road, softening as it moved, picking up the colours and motifs of each new environment. This style, derived in Rajistan made by women who can embroider to this standard of gives suzani a new life of is own.