Arts And Crafts

Due to its diversified socio-cultural and religious influences, the handicrafts of Andhra Pradesh prospered around the temples, courts, villages and tribal communities. Nirmal is a famous art that can be traced back to the Kakatiyas. Decorative, beautifully painted wooden articles like furniture, bowls, lamps, ashtrays, and boxes are typical items of Nirmalware. Himroo is a distinctive, luxurious fabric, once used as dress material by the nobles, with a cotton base and silk or art silk weave, made into stoles, gowns and furnishings. Bidri is a metal craft of Andhra Pradesh. It derives its name from Bidar which is the hometown of this exquisite craft. The basic material used is alloy of zinc, oxidized and intricately inlaid with silver. The artisans of Hyderabad have perfected the art of creating articles of jewelry from the days of the Golconda kingdom. Hyderabad today is the largest pearl center of India. Andhra Pradesh has an age-old tradition of hand-woven fabrics. Other interesting crafts are gold covering work on alloy or copper, silver, brass and gold from Machilipattnam, the silver filigree work in Karimnagar, beads and bangles from Kalahasti, in the Chittor district, and silver snake chains from Hyderabad. The Chari woodwork is also famous, especially in the Warangal district.

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