Embroidery - A Sustainable Craft Technique with a Long History

Embroidery is an art form with a long and fascinating history all around the world. It has been used for centuries to patch and reinforce garments, extending their life and hence creating a low-waste world by becoming a core technique. In modern times, embroidery has become an important design element, with automated machines allowing for intricate and creative designs. 

Embroidery is traditionally a sustainable practice that also helps to reduce waste by being a beautiful way of repairing and mending items when needed, instead of being thrown away and replaced. Sustainable practice embroidery is a great way to reduce the environmental impact of crafting, sewing, and creating beautiful items.

Now we use embroidery as a way to express our creativity and emotions. It isn’t just a craft, it’s an art form that requires patience, precision and creativity. Also, it has a social and intergenerational element in it.  Bridal dowries are a beautiful example of how people come together to work on a single project together. The knowledge passes from one to another without formal training. Grandmothers teach their grandchildren the same techniques they learned from their own grandmothers.  As a child, there is nothing quite like learning a craft from your mother—especially when it's a skill that has been passed down for generations. It is a wonderful skill to learn and share with your family and it can be a bonding experience that stays with you forever.

It's amazing how quickly a person can learn the basics of embroidery. Before you know it, you can be hand-stitching colorful, intricate designs. And with practice and patience, you can quickly become a master of this craft and spruce up your favorite garments that might have otherwise been discarded, extending their life and adding extra colour and texture. So patch up holes, reinforce stress points, and add a unique touch of flair and design!

We are a female-led team with significant experience in sourcing and supply chain in textile industry, also driven by a passion for design and love for the planet. NASAQU began as a project to explore ways of protecting nature and natural resources. NASAQU is a Sumerian word-  an earliest ancient civilization known founded between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers- meaning Kiss.  It reflects our love for the nature and desire to embrace the traditions that belongs to everybody in the world.

Embroidery is an excellent way to reduce our environmental footprint compared to print solutions, as it is more durable, more resistant to fading and tearing. Embroidery on garments generally outlasts the garment, whereas prints, if not screen-printed on the fabric, tend to fade long before the garment does. Inspired by this, as a team of sustainability experts and a designer, we decided to explore the world of embroidery and incorporated it into our designs. We chose not to use any decorative printing other than embroidery, as this would also require chemical applications that can wear down the products.

We love including this art form in our designs, and use a special technical embroidery in each of our styles, as a reminder of the times when our mothers taught us as children. This technique of “embracing nature and traditions” is an important part of our mission to protect nature and natural resources. We are proud to be part of this art form with its historical past and modern touch—it’s a way for us all to express ourselves without losing our locality in a globalizing world.