Pedana Kalamkari: the printed Kalamkari of the Krishna delta

Where Pedana is

Pedana is a small town in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, a few kilometres from the port town of Machilipatnam on the Bay of Bengal. Together they are the home of the printed style of Kalamkari, which is why you will see the same craft called Machilipatnam Kalamkari or Pedana Kalamkari.

Two schools of one craft

Kalamkari takes its name from kalam (pen) and kari (work). In Andhra Pradesh it grew into two schools:

• Srikalahasti, in the south of the state, where designs are drawn freehand with a bamboo pen. The panels usually tell stories from the epics and temple legends.
• Machilipatnam and Pedana, where designs are printed with hand-carved wooden blocks. Here the art grew around trade: patterns of flowers, trees, birds and animals, repeated across whole lengths of cloth for garments, curtains and bedspreads.

Our Srikalahasti vs. Machilipatnam guide compares the two in detail.

A craft shaped by trade

Machilipatnam was one of the busiest ports on India's east coast for centuries, and printed cotton from the region travelled across the seas to Persia, Southeast Asia and Europe. Persian-inspired motifs, such as the flowering tree, the paisley and the curling vine, are still printed in Pedana today.

Pedana today

Pedana's workshops now make Kalamkari in more than one way:

• traditional hand-block printing;
• hand-painting of details;
• screen printing, which lets the same motifs reach more people at lower prices.

Where a piece's details on Kalamkari House give the technique, such as "Screen Printed", that is how it was made. If you'd like to know how a piece was made before you order, message us on WhatsApp. Read how Kalamkari is made for the differences.