The word Aari, originates from Aar or the needle used by the craftsmen. The work also came to be known as Aari Bharat or Mochi Bharat. The Aari craftspeople first used a cobbler’s awl with a thick wooden handle to help push the hooked metal embroidery and spike it through the leather. When they adapted the technique to make fine embroidery on silks and muslin, they moved to more delicate tools with which they covered the fine fabrics with motifs of flowers, fruits, trees and birds, all done with the distinctive chain-stitches. Aari-style work has also appeared on Pichhwai-inspired paintings, indicating the inter-craft influences in India. Motifs also came to include conches, boats and religious imagery.