Lace garlands woven by artisans in Chintadripet take on a new character ahead of Assembly elections

Based on orders from political parties in Tamil Nadu, they personalise the lace garlands and kritams (crowns) with the faces of leaders of those institutions.

Artisans in Chintadripet specialising in lace garlands are going beyond the regular run-of-the-mill specifications. Even customisations through the year will fit certain patterns, monotonously recurring.

Customisations currently being pursued follow a whole new pattern. This is a pattern that repeats once every few years. These artisans are now putting faces to the lace gardens, powerful faces. Based on orders from political parties in Tamil Nadu, they personalise the lace garlands and kritams (crowns) with the faces of leaders of those institutions.

The colours of party flags are woven into the lace garlands.

The lace garlands are qualified as sandalwood lace garlands as scented sandalwood shavings are part of what goes into their making.

These wood shavings are also crafted into decorative items that jazz up the garlands. There are also lace garlands that use cardamon to define the character of their strings.

The kritams (crowns) are made taller by artfully stacking currency notes, which is essentially about the party going the extra mile, a costly mile at that, to honour its leaders and candidates.