If you are a connoisseur of crafts and love to arrange your life around it Hyderabad can be just your kind of place. In other words, talk ethnic shopping in Hyderabad and an entire life-time’s must-buy list tugs at your purse-strings. Here are all that you will find hard to resist if you truly marvel ethnic art.

What to buy
Bidri crafts
Bidar was once a part of Hyderabad and hence the sobriquet “Hyderabadi Bidriware” for metal objects inlaid with an alloy of zinc and copper. A bidri-ware hookah or a flower vase in your drawing room can make your neighbours go green with envy!

Lambadi embroidery
Indigenous to the Lambadis, the Telengana banjaras, this form of embroidery can lift a mundane looking dress-material or a bag. A bedspread, cushion cover, and wall hanging with Lambada stitches add that dash of ethnic flavour to your living room.

Perfumes
Love the smell of earth after a sudden downpour on a hot summer noon? Nicknamed matti this, along with khas, constitutes the most sought-after fragrances in Hyderabad, home to some of India’s most well-known perfumeries. Choose your fragrance.

Hyderabadi toys
No other Indian state has such variety of indigenous puppetry—Nirmal, Kondapally, Tirupati, Etikoppaka and leather toys—as Andhra Pradesh. Handmade, in bright colours and absolutely unique, these are must-buy.

Handloom
Hyderbadi cotton and silk sarees, with elaborate borders and ornate threadwork, tie-and-dye Ikat fabrics and Lepakshi block-print cotton sarees can be wonderful additions to your wardrobe. And with a little bargaining, you might even be able to bag those ethnic cotton and woollen dhurries of Warrangal and Eluru.

Kalamkari
These Machilipatnam freehand quill-painted fabrics, mostly depicting Indian mythological figures and done in bright colours, make for grand ethnic show-offs. You might find them a little over-priced, but considering the painstaking seventeen steps that go into the making of each piece and the artistic finery, you would be doing your bit in paying homage to the artist.

Zardozi
Gift yourself a Hyderabadi zardozi silk or velvet dress with intricate gold and silver threads woven around pearls and precious stones. Team it up with the mirror-studded lac bangles from Laad Bazaar and watch heads turn at the party.

Where to buy
Head for Lepakshi (Abids and RTC Cross Roads), Kalanjali (Khairatabad), Central Cottage Industries Emporium (Secunderabad), Sheela's (Hyderabad GPO), Cauvery Arts (Secunderabad HO), Calcutta Emporium (behind Lepakshi, Abids), Bidri Crafts (Gunfoundry, Abids ) for the best ethnic buys. A better option is to attend the exhibitions at Shilparamam (Hyderabad GPO) to bag handicrafts from all over the country.

Happy shopping!