2 weeks ago
From Embroidery Ban to Colourful Bags Empowering 300 Women Artisans
Long ago, women in the Rabari community of Kutch, India, made beautiful embroidery.
But the community leaders banned wedding embroidery because it took too much time.
This made the women sad because embroidery was a big part of their culture.
Instead of giving up, they invented a new, faster way to decorate fabric using ribbons and colourful trims.
They called this new style Hari Jari.
A woman named Pabiben Rabari made a special bag using this style.
The bag became very popular and even appeared in movies.
Pabiben started a website to sell the bags in 2015.
Now, more than 300 women make and sell these colourful bags.
The craft that was banned turned into a job that gives women money and keeps their tradition alive.
Pabiben Rabari grew up in Kukadsar village in Kutch and trained as an artisan in 1998 after joining a women's group.
The Dhebaria Rabari community banned traditional wedding embroidery in the 1990s, believing the time spent on it delayed marriages.
Women responded by developing the Hari Jari technique, using machine appliqué, ribbons, and decorative trims.
Pabiben created the Pabi Bag at a design programme at Kala Raksha Vidyalaya, and her bags appeared in Bollywood's Luck by Chance and Hollywood's The Other End of the Line.
Pabiben launched Pabiben.com in 2015, and the enterprise now supports more than 300 women artisans across Kutch.
- Who
- Pabiben Rabari, an artisan and entrepreneur from Kukadsar village in Kutch.
- What
- Turned a community ban on traditional wedding embroidery into the Hari Jari technique and the Pabiben.com bag-making enterprise.
- Where
- Kutch, India, with products reaching markets around the world.
- When
- The ban came in the 1990s, she trained as an artisan in 1998, and Pabiben.com was launched in 2015.
- Why
- To keep Rabari embroidery alive and turn traditional skills into an income-generating craft business.
Key facts
- Founder
- Pabiben Rabari
- Enterprise
- Pabiben.com, launched in 2015
- Signature technique
- Hari Jari
- Artisans supported
- More than 300 women across Kutch
- Origin village
- Kukadsar, Kutch
- Community ban
- Dhebaria Rabari banned wedding embroidery in the 1990s
- Films featuring bags
- Luck by Chance (Bollywood); The Other End of the Line (Hollywood)
- Product range
- Bags, purses, toiletry kits, files, quilts, cushion covers





