Malabar is a company known worldwide that manufactures handloom fabrics in vibrant colors and textures, embroideries, appliques, sheers, silks, chenilles and velvets. Malabar also carries a collection of beautiful colored grass wallpapers designed to complement the fabrics. These fabrics are made in Kerala, a town in the southwest of India, with stockists and distributors worldwide. See more of their textiles here.
The term Suzani means “needlework”–specifically, the exquisite silk thread embroidery textile made by Uzbek women from Central Asian countries. Traditionally this embroidery work begins at the birth of a daughter and continued, with the help of family and friends, until the bride’s dowry was complete and then presented to the groom. Among the popular design, motifs are flowers, fruits, leaves, nines, moon disks and sometimes animals as birds and fish.
Suzani is one of the many design elements often found in the popular design style called Global Chic due to its decorative tribal details. Below a few of my favorite Suzani pieces.
