Look closely at a Sanahin set and you will see something that a machine cannot fake: a dense, interwoven pattern that seems to sit both on and inside the linen. It is Marash embroidery, one of the most admired forms of Armenian needlework, and every motif on our Sanahin pieces is worked by hand.
Here is where the stitch comes from, how it is made, and why we chose it.
A stitch named after a city
Marash was a historic city in Cilicia, the region of medieval Armenia that reached the Mediterranean coast, in what is now southeastern Türkiye. Its Armenian community was known for weaving, dyeing and, above all, needlework. Women of every background embroidered, often through the long winters, and their work decorated homes, dowries and church textiles.
Two kinds of needlework grew up there. One was a flat, visible satin-style stitch found across many Armenian regions. The other, a hidden or "secret" interlaced stitch, was unique to Marash, and it is the one that carries the city's name today.
How it is made
Marash embroidery starts with a framework. The embroiderer first lays down rows of crossed stitches, a kind of lattice. She then weaves the working thread through that lattice in a strict order, building a braided, almost woven surface. Most of the thread rests on top of the fabric rather than passing through it, which gives the work its raised, sculptural look.
Because each pass depends on the one before, there is no room for shortcuts. A single misplaced stitch shows up rows later. That is why a Marash panel takes hours, and why no two finished pieces are exactly alike.
Traditional Marash work favoured symmetrical designs: geometric medallions, stylised flowers, crosses and knotted forms that echo Armenian stone carving. Deep reds and blues were the classic colours, sometimes with gold or silver thread on the most important pieces.
More than decoration
For Armenian women, embroidery was never only ornament. Patterns were stitched onto clothes and household cloths as blessings and as protection against the evil eye. They marked a family's prosperity and were passed from mother to daughter along with the skill itself.
After 1915, Armenian life in Marash came to an end. The stitch survived because the women who knew it carried it with them, to Aleppo, Beirut, Yerevan and far beyond, and kept teaching it. Many of today's Marash embroiderers learned it at a grandmother's side.
Why we chose it for Sanahin
Mairik means "mother" in Armenian, and our brand exists to keep that inheritance alive. Our founder, Janet Karapetyan, set out to preserve the Armenian hand-embroidery techniques that have been practised for more than 2,000 years. Marash work, with its patience and precision, is the clearest expression of that idea.
We named the collection after Sanahin, the medieval monastery in Armenia's Lori region whose carved stone ornament shares the same geometric language. On each Sanahin piece, the Marash motifs are stitched by hand in 100% cotton thread on 100% linen. The result is light enough for a summer terrace and detailed enough to be studied up close.
Who stitches it today
Every Mairik piece is hand-embroidered by Armenian women, many of whom grew up with these techniques. At the Mairik workshop we also run an embroidery school, so the stitch is passed to a new generation rather than kept in a museum case.
How to recognise real hand embroidery
- Tiny irregularities. Hand stitches vary slightly in tension and length; machine stitches are perfectly uniform.
- The back tells the story. Turn the piece over. Hand work shows neat, purposeful thread paths, not a dense mat of machine backing.
- Depth. Interlaced Marash work has a raised, braided texture you can feel with a fingertip.
Wear the story
The Sanahin collection includes two-piece sets in Dusty Rose, Dusty Blue, Dark Blue and Caramel, a robe, a T-shirt and a skirt, each in one relaxed size (S–XL). Explore the full Sanahin collection, or read our guide to caring for hand-embroidered linen so your piece lasts for generations.
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