Bamboo Chik Blinds

Handmade To Order

Beautiful Handmade shades,
Available in 7 Designs, Stitched & Edged In Any Colourway,
Made Bespoke to Your Dimensions
Shipped direct from India by courier to anywhere in the world

Chik Blind Making is a centuries old craft from India, originating in the Palaces & Forts of the north, to protect against the heat of the day. These natural bamboo blinds, hand stitched with lattice designs, beautifully complement an interior aesthetic from a city residence to a countryside home to life at the beach. They cast a soft, diffused light when down and their handmade quality, patterned stitching and choice of colours offer a more refined window treatment than regular bamboo blinds.

There are many chik makers in India, but.at Opium we work only with the most highly skilled artisans who are expert in their craft. Skills are passed on from generation to generation … keeping this wonderful craft alive. The blinds are made with very fine bamboo, hand split by a skilled artisan. The chik makers then create these beautiful blinds by weaving the design into the bamboo adding a single piece at a time.

INTERIOR DESIGNER PROJECT – Los Angeles, USA
Udaipur Gilas Design with Tape Edging/Stitching in Milk Chocolate

A Seamless Process from Start to Finish

At Opium, we have been working with Interior Decorators and individual clients for the past 10 years making our handmade chik blinds for their client projects and homes. We work with Architectural Digest AD 100 Design
ers, including Rita Konig & Ryan Lawson and House & Garden Top 100 designers such as Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, Sarah Vanrenen & Nicola Harding. Our chik blinds decorate homes all over the world … the UK, USA, Europe, Australia, the Middle East & South Africa.

We have a wonderful co-ordinator in India who oversees the production of your chik order and ensures the quality and size accuracy of the blinds. We also have a courier in India who personally handles and tracks all our chik blind shipments either sending to us in London or direct to our clients anywhere in the world. All orders are sent on a DDP service (delivery and duty pre-paid).

CLIENT PROJECT- Battersea, London
Udaipur Gilas Design, Natural Ecru Edging/Stitching

INTERIOR DESIGNER PROJECT – Montana, USA
Jaipur Barfi Design, Tawny 55 Edging/Stitching

CLIENT PROJECT – THE HAMPTONS
Dappled sunlight in the Breakfast Room of this stunning Hamptons Home
Chik Blinds in Udaipur Gilas Design with Natural Ecru stitching and tape edging

CLIENT PROJECT – NEW YORK APARTMENT
Oversized Nagaur Design

Designs

Udaipur Gilas
Black Colour 1 Stitching

Udaipur Gilas
Natural Ecru Colour 0 Stitching

Jaipur Barfi
Denim Blue Colour 8 Stitching

Jaisalmer Chirag
Natural Ecru Colour 0 Stitching

Jodhpur Choodi
Stone Colour 53 Stitching

Osian Sidha
Stone Colour 53 Stitching

Nagaur
Natural Ecru Colour 0 Stitching

Monsoon Sidha
Natural Ecru Colour 0 Stitching

If you would like to see the different designs before ordering, these are on display in the Kings Road store or we have small samples available to borrow with a refundable deposit.

Design Details

Blinds can be ordered to a maximum width of 2.5 metres (8ft approx) and there is no restriction on the length. They can work equally well for large and small window treatments. The blinds are rolled up with a traditional cotton cord threaded through a hand carved mango wood pulley (left natural or dyed to match the colour of the stitching). The pulley cord can either be placed centrally on the blind or on either side (as specified). Blinds wider than 1.2 metres require 2 pulleys and cords. The pulley cord can be tied to a cleat on the side of the window frame (not provided). We can also provide hand carved mango wood toggles to match, fixed to the end of the pulley string. The mango wood toggle is also dyed to match the stitching colour or left as natural wood for any beige/light colours. Alternatively, we can provide teak pulleys and toggles at an additional cost.

Blinds can be ordered with string ties or tab loops at the top. String ties can either be secured to a pole or more usually knotted through metal eyelets screwed into the top of the frame or the ceiling of the recess. Clients may also hang the blinds with 1” brass cup hooks inserted through the bamboo just below the top tape edging, which gives a more finished look. Clients may also choose to velcro the top binding to a wooden baton (not supplied). If you choose the tab loops option, bamboo poles can be ordered at an additional cost from £25 + VAT depending on the length of the pole.

String Ties for Brass Eyelet fixings (below)

Tab Loops on Bamboo Pole

Brass Eyelets for securing the String Ties 1.5cm recommended

Brass Cup Hooks - 3.5cm diameter for cradling the bamboo pole & 2.5cm diameter to cradle the top of the blind binding as an alternative to string ties

Pulleys & Toggles for String Ties in Natural Mango Wood

Pulleys & Toggles for String Ties in Teak Wood

Colours for Stitching & Tape Edging

You can choose from approximately 40 stock colours for the stitching, edging, pulley & rope, or we can match to any Farrow & Ball paint colour (including archive colours). We can email a colour chart showing our most popular colours as well as the full colour chart or you can click on the link here.

Pricing & Delivery

Quotes & Ordering

To request a quote or place an order, please download and complete the order form attached or email your dimensions to shop@opiumshop.co.uk for a quote by return.

DOWNLOAD OUR CHIK BLIND ORDER FORM ‘HERE’

VIEW OUR POPULAR COLOURS CHART ‘HERE’

A 50% deposit is required to confirm the order. The balance and courier charges are payable on collection or when the blinds are ready to send from India, if we are sending direct. Payments can be made through the bank or via a secure card payment link which we can email to you. We offer a trade discount to Interior Decorators/Designers.

Delivery is approximately 6 to 8 weeks for blinds in Natural Ecru and 8 to 12 weeks for blinds with coloured stitching/tape edging.

UK ORDERS - For UK clients, orders of less than 5 blinds are sent by courier to our London store packed with other client blinds. Clients can either collect from the Kings Road store or we can send on at an additional courier cost (usually £25.00 + VAT approx). For orders over 6 blinds, we will send direct to your address from India. The courier cost from India to Opium in London or to your address is charged at a nominal amount of £20.00 + VAT per blind if less than 1.2 metres in width. For blinds ordered in a width greater than 1.3 metres, there is an additional £100.00 + VAT courier supplement (this applies to the width, not the length of the blinds and is a single supplement charge, not per blind).

USA & REST OF THE WORLD ORDERS - For USA and Rest of the World, orders are sent direct by courier from India at a cost of approximately £15.00 per kg (volumetric weight). All our shipments are sent with UPS or similar on a DDP service (delivery and duty pre-paid), so there are no additional customs duties to pay on receipt of your blinds. Orders outside the UK are zero rated for sales tax and therefore the additional 20% sales tax does not apply. We can send a secure credit card payment link for deposits, balances and courier charges, so there are no onerous international bank charges.

EUROPEAN ORDERS – For clients based in Europe, orders are sent direct by courier from India at a cost of approximately £10.00 per kg (volumetric weight). Your order will be sent with UPS or similar on a DDP service (delivery and duty pre-paid), so there are no additional custom charges to pay when you receive your order. European client orders are zero rated for VAT sales tax and therefore the additional 20% sales tax does not apply. As for USA and Rest of the World clients, we can email a secure credit card payment link for deposits, balances/courier charge, so there are no onerous international bank charges.

Client Project USA

Bamboo Chik Blinds with oversized Nagaur Design & Tape Edging & Stitching in Cinnamon Colour No 42

Client Project

Berkshire Carriage House, USA. Bamboo Chik Blind in Udaipur Gilas Design with Milk Chocolate No 2 Tape Edging

Measuring

If the blind is to sit Outside a Window Recess, please give us the window size and we will allow for 5cms (2”) either side and again at the top and bottom to give the blind the necessary ‘drop’and to ensure the window glass is properly covered. The blind dimension will therefore have 10cms (4”) added to both the length and width.

If the blind is to sit Within a Window Recess, please give us the exact recess measurement and we will then reduce the blind size by 1.5cms (approx. ¾”) to the width and 1cm (1/2”) to the blind height. This allows for the blind to roll up and down easily and sit correctly when down.

The blinds can be converted to Roman Blinds but this needs to be done locally, not in India. We can recommend a company in London who offer this conversion service and also a company in New York for USA orders. If you plan to have the blinds adapted to roman blinds, please advise at the time of ordering as the conversion can shorten the drop of the blind a little. We therefore need to add to the length of the blinds to compensate for this (anything from 1” to 2.5” depending on the length of the blind).

Backing the Blinds for Privacy/Design Style

The blinds can be backed with a Natural Handloom Cotton Fabric in India. We can offer various weights of fabric from relatively sheer to heavier cotton for greater privacy. However, none of the fabrics are ‘black out’. The handloom fabric can be left natural to complement the Natural Ecru colour of the tape edging and stitching or dyed to match whichever colour you choose. We charge £60.00 per square metre for the fabric and stitching charge. If you wish to have the blinds backed in your own fabric, we can arrange for our courier to collect and deliver to our chik makers in India. This is an additional charge and only applies to larger orders of 5 blinds or more.

CLIENT PROJECT – Sibyl Colefax San Francisco Fall Show
Chik Blinds in Udaipur Gilas Design, Scarlett Red Stitching

CLIENT PROJECT, SANTA MONICA, USA
Chik Blinds filtering the sunlight in a Library Snug

Find Opium on House & Garden The List

Centuries Old Traditional Craft

Skilled Artisans weaving the Udaipur Gilas design at our chik workshops near Delhi– a craft tradition dating back many hundreds of years, passed on from generation to generation – keeping this handmade craft alive.

A Traditional Craft That Translates Beautifully to a Contemporary Setting

CONSERVATORY
Chik Blinds in Udaipur Gilas Design, Scarlett Red Stitching

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