Karimnagar Silver Filigree Craft

Filigree is a delicate kind of work that is done on metals. Gold and silver are used in shaping up beautiful works of art. The Karimnagar city of Telangana serves as the second name of Silver Filigree. The craft of making silver filigree was traditionally adopted as livelihood by the people of this region for generations during the19th and 20th centuries.

Since 19th Century AD, the very talented craftsmen of Karimnagar fashioned rich intricate trellis/Jali made of twisted silver wire. The locals say that this unique craft was adopted some 200 years ago by the Elgandal town near the Karimnagar district in Telangana and it later moved to the Karimnagar town in the first decade of the 20th Century. After digging deep about how this craft emerged, it has been understood that this craft was introduced by a widely travelled professional goldsmith, Kadarla Ramayya, who was a native of Yalagandala, who learned and absorbed this filigree jewel technique and craft. In Telugu parlance, filigree is called as, vendi teega pani (work done with silver wire).