Block printing in Pakistan is carried mainly by Ajrak, the hand block printed cloth of Sindh and South Punjab, and most of what survives is held together by family workshops and artisan cooperatives rather than factories. If you are looking for an artisan cooperative for block printing in Pakistan, this is the landscape you are looking into.

What Ajrak block printing is

Ajrak is a block printed textile, usually a shawl or length of cloth, worked in deep red and indigo blue with white patterning. In Sindh it is not decoration. It is given at weddings and funerals, worn as a mark of respect, and draped over guests. It is a cultural object before it is a product.

The craft traces to the Indus valley civilisation, and the forms on the cloth are often described as among the oldest continuously used patterns in the subcontinent. Whatever the exact dating, the tradition is old enough that nobody can point to its beginning.

How block printing is actually done

This is why genuine Ajrak costs what it does. The process runs through as many as fourteen separate stages, and most of them involve waiting.

Hand-carved wooden blocks. Each pattern element has its own block, cut by hand. A single design may need several blocks, and the blocks themselves are a craft.
Natural dyes. Prepared from plants, minerals and insects. Indigo for the blue, madder for the red.
Resist printing. Paste is printed onto the areas that must stay white or stay light, so they resist the dye that follows.
Repeated dyeing. The cloth goes through dye baths more than once, with printing, washing and drying between each round.
Washing and sun drying. Riverside washing and open drying are part of the method, which is why the craft clusters along the Indus.

Because the block is pressed by hand, the registration is never perfect. Small overlaps and gaps between colours are the signature of real block printing, not a defect.

Where it is made

The heartland is Sindh, along the Indus. Bhit Shah, the Sufi town built around the shrine of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, is one of the known centres, and a handful of families there still work by the old methods. Matiari and Hala are others.

Hala is worth noting on a blue pottery site, because the same town is known for both Ajrak and for Sindhi blue pottery. The craft map of Pakistan is smaller than people assume, and the same towns keep appearing.

Block printing is also worked in South Punjab, the same region as Multan, which is how it sits alongside blue pottery, Kashi tile work and the other crafts of the area.

What an artisan cooperative actually does

Most block printing is family work. A cooperative is what happens when those families pool the parts that are hard to do alone.

In practice that means buying dyes and cloth in bulk at a better price, sharing dyeing and drying space, taking orders that are too large for one household, handling the paperwork and export documentation that an individual printer will not touch, and reaching buyers directly rather than through middlemen who take most of the margin.

Several of these groups are organised specifically around women artisans, who do much of the finishing and stitching work, and who benefit most from being paid directly rather than through a household intermediary.

The honest picture is mixed. Cooperatives have kept workshops alive, but the craft is still described as endangered, and the number of families printing by traditional methods keeps falling. Rising costs for dyes, cloth and fuel push workshops toward screen printing, which is faster and cheaper and is not the same thing.

How to tell hand block printing from screen printing

Four checks, and they work in a shop as well as online.

Look for imperfect registration. Hand pressed blocks leave tiny overlaps where colours meet. Screen printing is exact.
Check the repeat. On block printed cloth the pattern repeat varies very slightly across the length. On screen print it is identical every time.
Look at the reverse. Natural dyes penetrate, so a genuine Ajrak shows the pattern clearly on the back. Surface pigment printing sits on the front only.
Smell and feel it. Naturally dyed, repeatedly washed cloth is soft and smells of nothing much. Chemical surface prints often feel stiff.

Where this sits among Pakistan’s crafts

Block printing is one of several crafts in the same position: old, regional, hand worked, under cost pressure, and kept going by a shrinking number of families. Blue pottery in Multan is in the same situation, which is why the two are often discussed together, and why both turn up on lists of endangered crafts.

We make blue pottery rather than textiles, so we are not the people to sell you an Ajrak. What we can tell you is that the test is the same across both crafts: ask where it was made, ask who made it, and look for the small irregularities that only hand work produces.

For the wider picture of what Pakistan still makes by hand, see our guide to the handicrafts of Pakistan and our guide to telling real handwork from machine production.

Frequently asked questions

What is block printing in Pakistan called?

The best known form is Ajrak, the hand block printed cloth of Sindh and South Punjab, printed with carved wooden blocks and natural dyes.

Is there an artisan cooperative for block printing in Pakistan?

Yes. Several operate in Sindh around centres such as Bhit Shah, Matiari and Hala, pooling dye and cloth purchasing, shared dyeing space, larger orders and direct market access, often organised around women artisans.

How many stages does Ajrak block printing take?

Up to fourteen, including block carving, resist printing, repeated natural dyeing, washing and sun drying.

What dyes are used?

Natural dyes prepared from plants, minerals and insects. Indigo gives the blue and madder the characteristic red.

How do I know if Ajrak is genuinely hand block printed?

Look for slightly imperfect registration where colours meet, small variation in the pattern repeat, and dye that penetrates to the reverse of the cloth.

Where is block printing done in Pakistan?

Mainly in Sindh along the Indus, with Bhit Shah, Matiari and Hala among the known centres, and also in South Punjab.

Block Printing in Pakistan and the Artisan Cooperatives Keeping It Alive