Pashmina,popularly known as cashmere wool, derived its name from Pashm
The thermo conductivity of thiswool is very high and proves to be the best insulator. Pure Pashmina wool is coarseand too delicate to wear. So, it undergoes a process that makes it soft as silkand is referred as cashmere. Pure Pashmina comes from Tibet and not Kashmir. Cashmere is any wool under 19 microns in thickness.
Pashmina is around 12-14microns thick and is six times finer than the human hair. (A human hair is 75microns) It is lighter and far more delicate than cashmere wool. Manufacturersweave Pashmina garments with a blend of silk. The proportion varies from 80:20percent to 50:50 percent. More the proportion of Pashmina, higher is theprice of those clothes. Clothes with a blend of silk and pashmina is adored inthe western world.
In the early ages, Pashmina was aroyal symbol and was known as Fiber for Kings. During the 15th century,weaving of Tapestry shawls was introduced from Turkistan by Zain-ul-Abdin, theruler of Kashmir. Exquisitely soft, light weight, and still warm, this royalluxury was patronized by successive rulers like Akbar. When the Mugal empirecollapsed these weavers became unemployed. Later on in the 19thcentury, Pashmina became a craze in France after Napoleon presented an exoticshawl to Empress Josephine.
Stateof the Art of Kashmir:
It takes 98 artisans and awhole day to weave 9 shawls. This finds its way as a part of dowry along withjewellery and other precious things that accompany the bride during marriages.Today most of the worlds Pashmina shawls are woven in Katmandu valley of Nepal and individually hand dyed. Nepal has the experience of dealing inPashminas for more than two centuries.
Pashmina shawls are an exclusiveart of Kashmir. Other countries have unsuccessfully tried to duplicate the art.These shawls are woven by weavers who have been into this craftsmanship forgenerations and have inherited this art from their ancestors. They create thedesigns with floral borders, chinar leaves and paisley, mostly from theirmemory, inspired by the lakes, sunrise and sunset. The main types of embroiderydone on Pashmina shawls are sozni, papier-mache and aari.
Sonzi is a needlework done on thesides of the shawl with paisleys and flowers. Paper-mache is done to cover theentire surface of the shawl and is hook embroidery. Designs are also made asMotifs which consists of leaves and flowers outlined in black. Though basiccolors of Pashmina are grey, brown and white, it is efficiently dyed and isavailable in approximately 400 charming rainbow colors.
The price of an original Pashminamay vary from 100 to thousands of rupees depending on the craftsmanship.
Reference:
To read more articles on
To promote your company, product and services via promotional article, followthis link:
Comments