Puducherry also known as Pondicherry is a storehouse of crafts, which is famous for household linen, satin, twill, corduroy, poplin, chambray, oxford cambric and Khadi. It is also one of the famous block printing centers in South India. It still uses mordant applied with a block or brush. For colouring, pieces of felt are kept in vats containing colours and the design block is pressed on them to take the imprint of the colour. Then the impressions are made on the cloth with these blocks. The final touching is done by brush.
Puducherry is also famous for handcrafted papier- mache and dolls made of plaster of Paris. The dolls represent various Hindu deities and natural colours are used for the toys.
Mat weaving is a traditional craft of Puducherry. The material used is Kora grass while cotton or aloe thread is used in the weave, as aloe is available abundantly. The thread is taken from the leaves of aloe. The designs consist of horizontal and vertical stripes and floral designs. The popular floral designs are chittipoo, thethuthipoo and vazhaipoo, which are usually in red and are elaborately woven.
Pottery is another distinct art of Puducherry and in Auroville one can find superb items of pottery, which are unparallel in beauty, design and quality.
