Aari work in Marthandam
ஆரி வேலை · மார்த்தாண்டம்
Regular customers from Marthandam and the villages around it, on the road north.
Ask about your designWork is done by hand in Nagercoil and finished pieces are returned to customers in Marthandam. Send a photograph of the design on WhatsApp and you will get a straight answer on what it takes and what it costs.
Marthandam sits on the road north out of the district, and a good part of the bridal work that comes from there is for church weddings - which changes what people ask for.
Reception work, mostly
A church wedding usually means a gown for the ceremony and a saree for the reception, and it is the reception blouse that carries the hand work. That tends to mean a lighter, cleaner design than a full muhurtham blouse: neckline and sleeve work, a border repeated on the pallu, more thread and less stone. It photographs better under hall lighting than heavy stone does, and it is considerably less expensive.
Plenty of temple-wedding work comes from Marthandam too, and that is closer to full bridal work.
Distance is not a problem
Marthandam is about forty minutes from Nagercoil, which is far enough that nobody wants to make the trip four times. In practice one visit, or a well-fitting old blouse sent along with the material, is enough - measurements taken from a blouse that already fits are more reliable than measurements read off a tape by somebody unused to it.
Send a photograph of the design on WhatsApp first. You will know the cost and the timing before you travel anywhere.
How an order works
Nothing here needs a shop visit to begin. Most orders start and finish on WhatsApp.
- 01
Send the design
A photograph on WhatsApp is enough - something you have seen, saved from Instagram, or drawn. Tell us the date you need it by.
- 02
Get a straight answer
What it will take, what it will cost, and whether it can be done in the time you have. If it cannot, you will be told that rather than strung along.
- 03
Measurements or a blouse that fits
Come and be measured, or send an old blouse that fits you well. Bring your own material - most customers do, and it costs less.
- 04
The work itself
The design is traced, the fabric stretched on a frame, and every bead, stone and length of zari worked in by hand. Two to three weeks for bridal work.
- 05
Collected or delivered
Ready to collect in Nagercoil, or sent to you anywhere in Kanyakumari district.
Questions about Marthandam
- Do you do reception saree blouses for church weddings?
- Yes, and a good share of the work from Marthandam is exactly that. A church wedding usually means a gown for the ceremony and a saree for the reception, so the hand work goes on the reception blouse - normally lighter than a muhurtham blouse, with more thread and less stone, which photographs better under hall lighting.
Send the design and get a straight answer
A photograph of what you have in mind and the date you need it by is enough to quote from.