The
Kashmiri Artisans’s.
Kashmiri tradesman buy raw material from Ladhaki nomads and transport it to a special muslim community in Srinagar. Here it is washed, removed of long contaminating hairs, and spun into yarn by women. This process is sometimes automated.
Men weave the yarn into shawls. Weavers rightly consider themselves artists, as it is they who transforms raw material into a soft fine warm textile.The skills of these artisans have been honed for over five centuries, influenced each time by a new ruler, tradesman or invader – the Persians, the Moguls, Afgani traders and French importers.