On a sunny London day, I make my way to London’s Dalston district to meet the makers of the bright and light blockprinted day dresses stocked everywhere from Liberty in London to Ron Herman in Japan. In a Stamford Works apartment turned design studio, Sarah Zellweger, founder of SZ Blockprints and peer, Ortensia Krüger, production + assistant, creative projects, both dressed in soft-to-touch muslin blockprinted garments, show me around the space where all the creativity happens.

There are jackets in geometric flower prints, pants in gingham checks made with age-old wooden blocks, pales of prints inspired by the centuries-old Indian craft, contemporised for a global wearer. Even the blue and white sofa that sits in a corner has the coverings of what could be a daytime dress best worn in the summer sun. Silhouettes named ‘Gaia’, ‘Divya’, ‘Charlotte’ after friends of the brand dress the walls, along with newest samples shipped from India, where all the hand printing for SZ Blockprints takes place.

To understand the story of SZ Blockprints’s small business is to know the story of KIN Fabrics – the label’s longtime India partner and provider of the meticulous blockprint craft that embellishes its denims, frocks and vests. It’s a symbiotic story of serendipity and chance encounters.

‘D Villa’ in the heart of Jaipur stands as an oasis of craft, community and creativity, even today. Functioning since 1966 as a quaint cottage industry amid the cityscapes of Rajasthan’s Pink City, KIN Fabrics was the brainchild of the late Kitty Rae — known as the Godmother of block printing. Housing the oldest block printing facility in the region, KIN began its roots as a furniture fabric store. A chance encounter with a wooden carved block that Rae found in the karigar studio led to the creation of a small batch of ‘block-printed’ saris for friends, which soon grew into a furnishings business in the prints and then an export business of saris and clothing, with dressers like Hema Malini and Zeenat Aman beelining for the bold prints.

“I came in contact with KIN through multiple chance encounters,” explains Zellweger who met Kitty Rae in 2016. “The exact right timing in the lives of myself, Kitty and Manju (Kitty Rae’s daughter who now runs KIN and ‘D Villa’ with her daughter Yuva) and the various people that connected us was a complete synergy,” she continues. The story goes that Zellweger, a student of Sociology and Anthropology at Pitzer College in California found herself living in the North East of India on a study abroad programme in 2006 where she lived and breathed the Indian culture of colour and craft. She knew she would find her way back to the country to form a connection that would last many years and inspire many collections to come.

“Post independence, India was racing at breakneck speed to join the West in its race for advancement. From electronics to Mrs Gandhi’s space mission – India was once again changing. At such a time, in a small town called Jaipur there was a strong, independent woman who was very content in the colour of her skin and the craft heritage of her country. Kitty Rae didn’t block print because it was trendy (because indeed, at a time when India’s high street was racking towards the polyester age it wasn’t). She block printed because wearing a 100% cotton or 100% silk and hand embellishing it with traditional prints was who she was – it was her Indian identity.” — Yuva Rae Gurbaxani, brand custodian, KIN Fabrics

Introduced via friends, Zellweger’s paths crossed Manju and Yuva’s who were now heading KIN after Rae’s passing. “The first thing I did when we started working together was go through the racks and racks of puraana blocks- there must have been five thousand. I would pull blocks off the shelf, we would dust them off and I would discuss with the team and the Master printers how old they were and what their original purpose was. Many of the historic blocks I chose were large floral motifs originally used for home interiors like curtains,” explains Zellweger.

Anthropologists believe printmaking and adornment of self were the first symbols of civilisation, the eternal student in Zellweger tells me. At her label, through constant interactions with the karigars in Jaipur and via her own instinct, she layers the blocks, plays with colours and stretches the boundaries of what blocks touching cloth could do. interpreting them in intriguing ways. Ginghams and a variety of stripes were the first results of this discovery process. “Recently, we have been adding textile to our prints by playing with white space, geometric framing and metallic inks, explains Zellweger. “The archives are an endless source of inspiration. Currently, we are using some aged blocks which were originally for table borders, in our upcoming denim collection. How does the back and forth between not just culture differences but also continental distances work? “Whenever we are doing swatch work I always suggest colour placement but also leave room for printer’s choice. The inherent understanding of the synergy of certain colour combinations, blendings and placement that the printer’s have is staggering. It is in their hearts and bones.”

“The world is burning and consumers are becoming more conscious of how they adorn themselves and what sort of businesses’ they support. A continuous interest is towards a slower more sustainable production and working with block print artisans is exactly that. The synergy of all of this has helped to fuel the popularity of block prints and I believe this will continue to soar.” — Sarah Zellweger, founder, SZ Blockprints

In the 7 years since the label started, it has grown its digital footprint, collaborated with American giant J Crew, and opened more printing rooms in its Jaipur manufacturing unit. From finding its wings in the West Bohemian Movement (remember the paisley printed kaftans and white kurtas of the Beatles and Maharishi days), to taking off in America, Europe and Japan in its newest avatars, what underscores Zellweger’s design mission is to forward the centuries old craft of India – and always doing it with the true and original source always in the spotlight. “Everything we do is about the unique nature of our production process – every motion, gesture, placement and stamping of the wooden block onto fabric – is the poetry of this craftsmanship and the hum of our universe.”

Also read:

28 Indian labels you can buy block printed pieces from

10 breezy block-printed kurtas, saris and more, to inspire your year-round festivities

10 block-printed co-ord sets you need to bookmark for the summer