The Kashmir Valley is situated in northern India. It is located mostly in the Himalayan Mountains, famous for its beautiful mountainous landscape, lakes, rivers, the Mughal gardens and famous tulip garden.
Before 14th century Kashmir’s economy was only centered around agriculture. Then a Persian scholar, Mir Syed Ali Hamadani, traveled from Hamadan, his birthplace in Persia, to Kashmir. He was a Persian Sufi, a poet and a Muslim scholar. He was born in 1314 and died in 1384 in Kunar province, Afghanistan. He played a major role in spreading Islam in Kashmir and he also influenced the culture of the Kashmir Valley. He was also known as Shah-e-Hamadan (King of Hamadan, Iran) and also Amir-e-Kabir (the great commander). He found Kashmiri people hard workers and patient and he realized that they had the capacity to learn arts and crafts. His basic intention was to provide employment to the people of Kashmir. He believed that the best deed, in the way of God, is to give the best employment to the people. So he brought a good number of artisans from different parts of Persia with different arts and craft skills and started teaching the people of Kashmir. With the passage of time, this arts and crafts industry spread to the whole valley. All these arts and crafts are indoor oriented and due to the cold winter weather, people would stay indoors and spend many hours on these arts.
He found that the softest wool came from the goats in Ladakh, Kashmir. The most popular is the pashmina wool goat. He made socks out of the wool and gave them as a gift to the king of Kashmir, Sultan Qutab-e-Din. Mir Syed Ali Hamadani suggested to the king that the best fabric could be made by hand out of this wool in Kashmir and that’s how they started the pashmina industry in Kashmir. He brought many arts to Kashmir like carpets, shawls, papier mâché, etc. Among all the arts he brought to Kashmir the most popular is the cashmere shawl. Kashmir became known worldwide when these shawls were exported to other regions and other nations.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization reported in 2014 that Ali Hamadani was one of the principal historical figures who shaped the culture of Kashmir, both architecturally, through arts and crafts and by enhancing the economy in Kashmir. The skills and knowledge that he brought to Kashmir gave rise to an entire industry.
Pashmina means woolen in Persia and it is considered one of the softest fabric in the world. Cashmere and pashmina are two names of the same fabric. Here in India we call it pashmina and rest of the world calls it cashmere.
Making a single shawl requires many processes with many families.
Families involved from beginning to end: pashmina goat farming; fiber collecting; fiber spinning; shawl weaving on the loom; dyeing; hand stamping designs to be embroidered; embroidery; washing and finally it is ready to use. There are different kinds of embroideries: needlework; hook work; kani work (jacquard woven with wooden bobbin) etc. Embroidery on a shawl takes months to years depending on the intricacy of the design and craftsmanship. There is a kind of embroidery which we call Durukha (reversible) embroidery which makes shawl a reversible shawl. It is the height of craftsmanship.
Many artisans carry shawls along with them in travel to work anywhere they stay. This is the only Kashmiri craft which is totally portable unlike others like weaving or metal-working.
We are really happy to express that these days we have master craftswomen who are doing master embroidery on shawls with very beautiful designs and colors. They cultivate the patience and passion necessary to embroider intricate shawls. The spinning of cashmere is only done by women and hand embroidery by both men and women.
All the other processes in shawl making are done by men. Young women do embroidery on shawls and most of them make their trousseau (a dowry consisting of items for the home such as bed linens). Married women collaborate with their husband in bringing up and educating their children.
The artisans face many challenges these days. Like poor marketing channels, poor advertisement programs, lack of knowledge among buyers, fake online stores, fake products, machine-made imitation products, fake events and exhibitions worldwide in the name of Kashmir handmade products, as well as fake packaging and labeling in the stores worldwide.
On top of that there is a lack of social security among artisans and their families, no good health care policy for artisans and the lack of implementation of wage laws in the country.
We artisans believe that if we get a proper channel to sell our products and educate buyers about this art that it will last longer and we can give more and better products to the world in the future. We believe that if we sell directly to the buyers we can educate them too. Buyers would then demand genuine products, which will encourage us and discourage the imitators.
Ultimately we are trying our best to get the proper marketing and selling channels like our partnership with Peterborough’s Cultural Cocoon to move this industry forward.
Mir Kashmir India Mir will be teaching an embroidery workshop on Tuesday, July 23, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Cultural Cocoon in Peterborough. Participants are encouraged to register at culturalcocoon.com/workshops. On Wednesday and Thursday, July 24 and July 25, he will be selling his goods at the World Art Market at the Mariposa Museum and Cultural Cocoon, both on Main Street in Peterborough. The hours of the World Art Market are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.