India, Jan. 11 -- Rows of swatches line textile and crafts house Chanakya International's Byculla office. The four-decade old atelier has one lakh such swatches at their similar hubs in Mumbai and Bologna, Italy.

From the almost extinct chaand jaal, to reticella, an early Italian lace technique, Karishma Swali, the managing and creative director of Chanakya, can recognise each piece. Swali reinvented reticella with Indian stitch techniques, while chaand jaal, a fine embroidery with real silver wire, which had become extinct, was revived with a contemporary spin after she found a rare swatch with the rafugars of Delhi.

"We are no longer making it for the queens who sat in one place the whole day," says Swali. "We, of course, had to make ...