Prepare the cloth
The fabric is washed and prepared before printing begins.
02 / Machilipatnam · Pedana KalamkariA cloth with a
A cloth with a
history of travel.
Machilipatnam / Pedana Kalamkari belongs to the block-printing tradition of Andhra’s Krishna coast — where carved blocks, cloth, colour and repeated hand processes create textiles carrying a distinct regional identity.
Place
From Andhra’s Krishna coast.
Pedana and neighbouring areas around Machilipatnam form an important Kalamkari production centre. Krishna District’s One District One Product material identifies Pedana as a specialist cluster within this textile tradition.
For QVibe, this coastal location matters not only geographically. It connects the living craft with a much older history of textile production and trade along the Coromandel Coast.
How it is madePattern is built
Pattern is built
one stage at a time.
Machilipatnam / Pedana Kalamkari is a block-print process. This page does not mix it with Srikalahasthi’s distinct freehand tradition.
Myrobalan treatment
Traditional process descriptions include treating the cloth with myrobalan before later colour stages.
Block print
Hand-carved wooden blocks build outlines and repeating motifs through repeated impressions.
Colour
Different colour stages develop through printing, treatment and washing rather than a single mechanical print pass.
Water + sun + time
Washing and drying remain part of the process, so environment and human judgement continue to matter.
The cloth that knew the sea.
Museum collections and textile history document painted and dyed cottons from India’s Coromandel Coast made for overseas markets during the 17th and 18th centuries.
That does not mean a particular modern Pedana workshop supplied those historic markets. It gives us a wider regional story: cloth from this coast has interacted with the world for centuries.
QVibe is not inventing the idea of Andhra cloth travelling.
The question is what travels with it today.
India exported approximately ₹3,216.94 crore of handprinted textiles in FY2024–25.
Of that broader handprinted-textile category went to the UAE in FY2024–25.
These figures describe India’s broader handprinted-textile export category — not Kalamkari or QVibe sales. They show that international demand for handprinted textile products already exists at meaningful scale.
Kalamkari already lives beyond one format.
Official product examples include sarees, clothing material, rugs, towels, bed covers, door covers and paintings. This matters because diversification is not a theoretical idea QVibe is imposing on the craft. The tradition already appears across multiple textile and decorative formats.
Sarees
Cloth carried and worn through a familiar form.
Rugs & towels
Repeat pattern moving into everyday textile contexts.
Paintings
Printed and dyed surfaces presented as visual narrative.
Door covers
Cloth marking thresholds and interior space.
Bed covers
Larger pattern fields shaped through repetition.
Clothing material
A flexible base for different garments and uses.
Can the cloth travel without becoming anonymous pattern?
QVibe wants to explore how stronger presentation of place, block, maker, process and regional identity might help people recognise Machilipatnam / Pedana Kalamkari as more than simply another printed textile.
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