Home / Bazaar / Sindh / Hyderabadi bangles
To wear · Gifts
Glass bangles, sold by the dozen
Glass rings in every colour, from the city that makes them for all of Pakistan.
$8–40
Find Pakistani glass bangles on Etsy ↗If you buy through this link we may earn a small commission. It never changes your price.
The story
Hyderabad in Sindh is known across Pakistan as the city of bangles. Whole neighbourhoods work glass into thin rings, and the bangles sold in markets from Karachi to Peshawar mostly start here.
Women wear them stacked up the wrist, matched to an outfit. They chime when you move, and that sound is part of the point.
In pictures
Photos coming soon. Each frame below says what it will show.
History
Glass bangle making came to Hyderabad after 1947, when artisans who had made bangles in India settled in Sindh. It grew into a large cottage industry, with much of the finishing done by women at home.
How it’s made
Glass is melted in furnaces and colour is added.
Molten glass is drawn into a thin rod and wound into a coil.
The coil is cut into rings, and each ring is joined over a small flame.
Rings are painted, gilded, or set with small stones, often at home.
Bangles are sorted by size and colour and tied in sets.
Kinds
Single colours, sold by the dozen.
Metallic finishes for weddings.
Glass bangles set with small stones.
Glass mixed with metal bangles at each end.
In Pakistan
On Chaand Raat, the night before Eid, markets stay open late and women and girls buy bangles and have henna put on. Brides wear dozens.
Buy it well
Where to buy
We may earn a small commission. Your price is the same.
Find Pakistani glass bangles on Etsy ↗Typical price: $8–40, before shipping. Read the “Buy it well” checks above before you order, and ask the seller for photos of the exact piece.
Questions
Close your hand as if putting on a bangle and measure across the knuckles. Sellers have size charts in inches.
They are glass, so yes if knocked hard. They are cheap enough to replace.
Keep exploring
Embroidered mirror-work cap
A round cap covered in mirrors, with an arch cut out at the front.
Block-printed cotton shawl
Indigo and madder, stamped by hand on both sides of the cloth.
Hand-painted metal kettle
The painting on Pakistan’s trucks, shrunk to fit a kitchen shelf.
Pakistani spice mixes, one dish per box
Biryani, nihari and karahi from a Karachi box, with the recipe printed on the back.
Share
Painting your card…
Stickers have a transparent background. Save one, then add it to an Instagram story, or turn it into a WhatsApp sticker with any sticker-maker app. If Save does nothing, press and hold (or right-click) the image to save it.