Kashmir has always been a center piece of charm and appeal. Its exotic exclusivity with mystical undertone has been consistently capturing the eye of the lovers of creativity.
The Muslim missionaries from Persia brought men with the skill set of carving onto the wood and metal, intricate mural painting and hand weaving and embroidery, this got imbibed in the local Kashmiri and he added the confluence of the flavour of Kashmir to the craft which emanated into a masterpiece every time it was curated.
Couched in a warm room, with a very thin muzak of rabab in the background, donning a woollen pheran, sipping onto the brewing kahwa steeped in the copper samovars, drowned in a piece of artistic mosaic is a kaarigar. This piece blemishes the rest of the details of the room but influences the design of the piece celestially. The handpicked woollen threads rolled into colourful balls and eventually into flowy ensembles, find their root in these mystic peaks of the valley only. For years, a kaarigar hand spuns one fiber with another ensuing in the marriage of the warmest of the threads reared in the Himalayan chest. Each fibril is a tale of love. Everything from the collection of raw material to needling to the disperse is done by the kariagar himself. The thread selection best suited as per the required fabric count is elected for particular embriodery types. The higher the count, the finer the yarn is and the more exquisite the embroidery would be. The marvels hence produced are limited, uncommon and expensive.
A pashmina shawl may require a month to be crafted by the craftsman, while the fine embroidery weaving on the cloak may require as long as two years. These intricately drawn classic threaded motifs over years may even cost the vision of eyes to the crafter.
The golden threads of tilla age like fine wine, they become the soul of the fabric they are embroidered on. Passed down from generation to generation, the true admirers of this art do not settle for anything less than the finesse achieved by hand. The craftsmen primarily follow the time-honoured designs which are long stamped into the minds of the people. These designs have an influence of the culture of the land and the flavour of the mood of the crafter as well. The concrete construct has got people longing for a human touch and the mosaic from Kashmir is the personification of the warmth of the love of Kashmir.