As with most other crafts of Kashmir, history has it that the Sufi Saint, Mir Syed Ali Hamdani ,who travelled from Central Asia was instrumental in making copper popular in Kashmir. He brought craftsmen from central Asia to train locals. However, the copperware craft flourished during the reign of King Budshah Zain-ul- Abideen. In the...
60 year old Muhammad Yousuf,a Kashmiri footwear maker, has kept alive the centuries-old tradition of making footwear (Pulhoor) with paddy straw. Resident of Zantrag village in Khrew, Pampore, he not only makes the traditional footwear but also several other items with straw, including mats, covers for cups, straps for wooden slippers and baskets. Yousuf learnt...
Amritpal Singh is an award winning, third generation chess-maker. This work was started by his grandfather who crafted various items out of ivory and white sandalwood. After both of these were banned, they started using wood. Commonly used wood types are: papri (boxwood), tali (sheesham), acacia, aabnoos and red sandalwood. For chess pieces papri is...
Rupinder Singh Jabbal, grandson of Sardar Harbhajan Singh Jabbal, the famous theater artist from Amritsar, is the 4th generation craftsman making wooden combs (kanga). His son, now the 5th generation also is a craftsman and works in the family business. Sardar Harbhajan Singh Jabbal was born on 1st October,1941 to Smt. Beant Kaur Ghatora in...
Papier-mâché is the French word for “chewed paper”, which is a standard English loan word, for objects made by moulding paper pulp in various shapes and then decorating them with designs in various colours. In the figurative sense the word ‘papier-mâché’ has come to be identified as the art of Kashmir. It is based primarily...
The word pashm means “wool” in Persian, but in Kashmir, pashm referred to the raw unspun wool of domesticated Changthangi goats. In common parlance today, pashmina may refer either to the material or to the variant of the Kashmir shawl that is made from it. Samples of wool fibres discovered from corroded copper artifacts from...
A Kani shawl is a type of Kashmir shawl originating from the Kanihama area of the Kashmir valley. The shawls are woven from pashmina yarn. The government of Jammu and Kashmir has granted a geographical indication to the Kani shawl, making it illegal to sell shawls made outside of the Kanihama area as Kani shawls....
Tilla is one of the most exquisite forms of embroidery in Kashmir. It is extensively used to decorate ethnic wear with the help of silver, golden, and copper metallic threads. The threads are delicately tied by needlepoint over the fabric to create exquisite designs. Tilla is a traditional craft of Kashmir which is used to...
Sozni is a popular needle point embroidery technique from Kashmir valley. It is usually practised by the local craftsman in a home-based workshop called Karkhanas. Most of these are located in Central Kashmir’s Budgam district. In the local dialect, the craft is also referred to as Sozni Kaem, Kani Sozni or setchzinikaem. To make a...
Process of dyeing of aari thread staple: 70 year old Bashir Ahmad works in his family owned, 122 years old dyeing karkhana at Bohri Kadal, Srinagar. Bashir is among the last hand-dyers or Rangrez in Srinagar who continue to manually dye silk and woollen threads especially for aari embroidery. Bashir started working at the karkhana...
