Kashmiri Shawls have been renowed since centuries and werethe pride of French Queen, Marie Antoinette. With a long tradition of artisticexcellence, the shawl is one of the most admired handmade fabric of Kashmir. Superb in workmanship, the unmatched magnificence is brought out by handembroidery. It is said that the shawls from Kashmir were famous even in thetimes of emperor Ashok (3rd C BC) but many writers credited SultanZain-Ul-Abidin (1420-1470 A.D) as the initiator of Shawl industry in Kashmir. It may be the Sultan whose enlightened rule encouraged promotion of arts as anorganized trade and the Pashmina or in Persian called "Pashm" that weknow today is a legacy of that period.
Shawls are worn and used as a warm protective garment allover the northern states today. Kashmir has become synonymous with shawls allover the world. It is a work of delicacy, tremendous concentration and too muchof patience. The decoration is formed by weft threads interlocked where thecolors change, the weavers passing them between the warps using bobbins around,which the variously colored threads are wound. The raw material for pashmina isbrought from and taken to for hand-weaving followed by embroidery andfinishing. Kashmiri shawls are rare and unique, due to its peculiar charm thatis derived from the symphony of color schemes depicting architectural andmythological figures interwoven with landscape designs. There are three fibresfrom which Kashmiri shawls are made - wool, pashmina and shahtoosh. The prices of the three cannot be compared - woollen shawls being within reach of the most modestbudget, and shahtoosh being a one-in-a-lifetime purchase. Woollen shawls arepopular because of the embroidery worked on them, which is unique to Kashmir. Both embroidery and the type of wool used bring about differences in the price. Wool woven in Kashmir is known as raffle . Cashmere shawls and Pashmina Shawls have adelicate, silky softness that sets them apart from ordinary woolen shawls.Obtained from the fleecy undergrowth of the rare Kashmiri goat throughtraditional combing techniques, their delicate silky softness carries an auraof luxury & class that made it the choice of kings and nobility in a bygoneera. We design, fabricate and export an exquisite range of Cashmere Shawlsembellished with ethnic Kashimiri work and other elegant designs. Although purepashmnina is expensive, the cost is sometimes brought down by blending it withrabbit fur or with wool. It is on pashmina shawls that Kashmir's most exquisiteembroidery is executed, sometimes covering the entire surface, earning it thename of 'jamawar'. A Jamawar shawl can, by virtue of the embroidery, increasethe value of a shawl threefold. Shahtoosh, from which the legendary 'ringshawl' is made, is incredibly light, soft and warm. The astronomical price it commands in the market is due to the scarcity of the raw material. High in the plateauxof Tibet and the eastern part of Ladakh, at an altitude of above 5,000 m, roamthe Tibetan antelope (Pantholops Hodgsoni). During grazing, a few strands ofthe downy hair from the throat are shed which are painstakingly collected bythe nomads, eventually to supply to the Kashmiri shawl makers as shahtoosh.Many kinds of embroidery is worked on shawls. 'Sozni' (needlework) is generallydone in a panel along the sides of the shawl. Sozni is often done so skilfullythat the motif appears on both sides of the shawl, each side having a differentcolour scheme. This naturally has a bearing on the cost. Another type of needleembroidery is popularly known as 'papir mch' work because of the design andthe style in which it is executed. This is done either in broad panels oneither side along the breadth of a shawl, or covering the entire surface of thebreadth of a shawl or that of a stole. A third type of embroidery is Aari orhook embroidery. Motifs here are the well-known flower design finely worked inconcentric rings of chain stitch. A less frequently seen weave done only onpashmina, covers the surface with tiny lozenge shaped squares, earning it thedelightful name of 'chashm-e-bulbul,' or "eye of the bulbul". As thisweave is a masterpiece of the weaver's art, it is normally not embroideredupon. Kashmir shawls were first worn in fashionable circles in the West in thethird quarter of the eighteenth century, and by 1800 the shawl trade between Kashmir and the West was well established. The appearance of European agents in Kashmir added fresh colour to an already cosmopolitan scene. Besides woven imitationsPersia also produced embroidered shawls in the Kashmir style but the factremains that KASHMIRI Shawls have become a must have for every women because ofits Royal appeal.
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