Bandhani Cotton
Tied by hand in thousands of tiny knots and then dyed, so every white dot is a spot the colour could never reach. Four of today’s on the rail.
Bandhani is tied, never printed. Each dot is a point where the cloth was pinched and bound with thread before it went into the dye pot. A single dupatta can carry tens of thousands of knots, and the women who tie them often keep one fingernail long, to pinch up the cloth.