Reviving a Dying Craft - A Journey
Our Story starts long time back around 1907, when our great grand father used to travel to Ladakh (Jammu & Kashmir, India) to source high quality Pashmina wool. those days were not as they are now. it took several weeks to travel to Ladakh (Jammu & Kashmir, India) from Srinagar (Jammu & Kashmir, India), sometimes on horses and sometimes on foot, crossing many mountains and valleys. Since that time the business has passed on to my grand father, my father and now i'm at the helm of many affairs of our business.
Ours is a cottage industry, most artisans works in their homes in far off villages, most of the times working besides their families. our business differs from most of the people around here, we focus on quality rather than quantity, Artisan Welfare rather than Self Aggrandizement, Customer Satisfaction rather than Profit Maximization.
Here the process starts from Raw Pashmina Wool which is sourced from Ladakh. The highest quality of Pashmina Wool comes from Ladakh. After that the Pashmina Wool is given to our female artisans who are responsible for making very fine yarn out of the wool using their Charkha ("Yandir" in kashmiri). The yarn is then given to our Hand loom artisans, who are responsible for making the fabric out of the yarn. Afterwards the fabric may be given to our Sozni Embroidery artisans which are responsible for Hand Embroidery on the fabric. Afterwards the fabric is sent for Hand finishing and washing. The stages from Raw Pashmina Wool to Finished Shawl/Scarf takes months for a simple Embroidery design and years for a complex Embroidery Design.
Along with all small small processes, there are more than 20 phases/processes in making of a single Pure Pashmina Shawl, which in turn means more than 20 families are benefiting if a single Handwoven Pure Pashmina Shawl/Scarf is sold.
Each Shawl/Scarf is a masterpiece in itself as regards to the quality of work and amount of time spent in its making by our skillfull artisans. These masterpieces are an asset, as rare as the precious metals available on earth.
We are proud about what we do, though the world is changing fast and machines are replacing humans, we are there to sustain this dying craft in times to come.
Abdul Baba
