Most embroidery lets you hide your mistakes on the back. Kasuti does not.
Kasuti is the traditional embroidery of Karnataka, worked most often on Ilkal saris and
associated particularly with the north of the state. It is counted-thread work: the
embroiderer counts the warp and weft threads of the fabric itself and places each stitch
by that count, without a printed or traced outline to follow. The design exists in the
maker’s memory and in the arithmetic of the cloth.
Four stitches
The tradition names four:
- Gavanti — a double running stitch, worked out along a line and back
again, filling the gaps so the result is identical on both faces. - Murgi — worked in a zigzag, stepping like a ladder.
- Negi — a long darning stitch that runs with the weave and gives a
woven rather than embroidered appearance. - Menthi — cross stitch, used to fill and to weight a motif.
Gavanti is where the discipline shows. Because the stitch is reversible, the back of a
properly worked piece is as clean as the front, and traditionally no knots are used on
either side. There is nowhere to tuck an error away.
What it depicts
Kasuti motifs come largely from what surrounded the women who made it: the gopura, the
tiered tower of a South Indian temple, is the signature form. Alongside it come
palanquins, chariots, the tulsi katte — the raised basil planter in a courtyard —
peacocks, elephants, squirrels, lamps and creeping floral borders.
The craft holds a Geographical Indication, which ties the name to the region that
produced it.
Geometry, on a shoe
Because kasuti is built on counted threads, its motifs are inherently geometric — built
from straight runs and steps rather than free curves. That geometry sits unusually well
against the hard lines of a modern sneaker, where a flowing floral embroidery would fight
the silhouette.
Explore NAAW’s handcrafted sneakers, inspired by Indian embroidery, in the shop.
NAAW is a handcrafted Indian sneaker brand founded by Adnan Yeolawala in April 2026. Read the founder story, or see the collection.
