Desi embroidery turns videshi in Kashmir

Crewel Embroidery Photo:Credits-Jos&fine Cashmere

When Shameem Ahmad Magray was young he didn’t go to school rather he along with his bunch of friends learned embroidery at his neighbour‘s house. Since then Magray has been working in this field and is a master of all hand-made embroidery techniques.

“You tell me what you want and I will make it,” says the confident artisan who has been in this field for 35 years. “It may take some time but the product will be everlasting,” continues Magray. While he put in a lot of hard work in the work, he only earns about Rs. 500 per day for his 12-hour work.

Kashmir’s embroidery popularly known as Kashida embroidery is one of the most popular needlework from the Indian subcontinent. Be it pashmina shawls with exotic sozni embroidery designs, the crewel embroidered curtain in the houseboats, the embroidered felt rugs or the chain stitch cushions, all these embroideries techniques have been followed by Kashmiri people for a long time.

Tilla embroidery Photo:Jos&fine Cashmere

Kashmir was ruled by foreign rulers for centuries, whose influence can be seen on Kashmiri textiles. According to a study by Deborah Emmet during 1420-70, Zain-Ul-Abidin, the eighth sultan of Kashmir brought shawl and carpet weavers to the valley from Turkestan and Samarkand respectively. It is believed that crewel and chain stitch embroidery was introduced in the valley during his reign. 

“The integrity of handmade products is very different”

Zamir Naqash, the owner of Naqash Design deals with sozni and crewel embroidery techniques. His father started the manufacturing of Kashmir textiles with different embroidery techniques. When he joined the business, he started exporting textiles.

“The integrity of handmade products is very different,” admits Naqash who only works in hand made embroidery. He says that they try to make products that stand out in the market. 

Sozni embroidery is considered to be done by the most skilled embroiderers in the valley. This embroidery technique employs a needle by which identical motifs are made on both sides of the fabric. 

The artisans make a stencil of the design on the cloth using “engraved wooden blocks dipped in a watery solution of charcoal powder mixed with a type of binder”. Woodworkers called 'Naquash Gurs' engrave the wood blocks with fine details. 

Once the pattern and colours are decided each fabric is given to a craftsman because each handwork is distinct. 

Batin Iqbal, who runs Batin Textiles and Handicrafts has been working on Aari embroidery techniques for a long time.

Manual Embroidery Photo: Batin Iqbal

The thread used for the embroidery is selected according to the aari and fineness of the stitches. The hook is always under the fabric on which embroidery is done and then it moves along the design pattern. The stitch is done from one point and to create an emboss effect on the fabric the stitch rotates around the point.

Crewel designs are larger than other embroideries and the most common patterns are flowers, birds, and paisley. Each flower is given a name by the craftsman, says Iqbal

Most of the aari work is carried out by machines, says Iqbal. But the finish and quality is better in hand made products, he continues. He says that as the demand for production has increased, manual and computerized machines have been employed heavily by manufacturers. 

“In computerized machines,” Iqbal says, “one-man can-do work of 20 men.”

The crisis of in hand-made embroidery market

When Ajaz Tromboo was 22 years old, he wanted to find a job but his father insisted him to join their old family business of embroidery work. As a fresh graduate, Tromboo found the work quite interesting and started expanding the business. “We had many showrooms in Kashmir and outside Kashmir,” says Tromboo. But with machine-made embroidery coming to the market, the handmade embroidery business started facing a crisis, laments the 50-year-old businessman.

Tromboo admits that he also started machine-made embroidery work but he was not satisfied. “I thought I was going away from the rich Kashmiri culture on which my father has spent so much time,” he says, adding, “so I decided to stick to hand-made embroidery.” 

He says the turmoil in the valley has also affected the business badly. He is not able to send materials to his customers on time due to which they are not satisfied with his service and shows a lack of interest.

“We had three stores in Srinagar but as the conditions in the valley deteriorated our stores were shut down,” complains Tromboo.

According to Aaditya Kitroo, co-founder of Jos&fine, when machine-made products came into the market, the hand-made products started showing a decline. In machines, the aari needle fires at a very high speed so the fabric has to be moved quickly and the end-product does not have clean lines unlike in handmade embroidery.

Silk Sozni Border shawl Photo:Jos&fine Cashmere

Kitroo recalls a conversation he had with some elder artisans who told him that in the 90s each day three trucks full of fabric used to go from Srinagar to Anantnag for embroidery and 1000 people used to work on these fabrics.

“If I compare the condition of handmade embroidery products in the early 90s,” Kitroo says, “it is less than 20% of what it was at that time.”

Uncertain future of hand-made embroidery 

Though many artisans are continuing the legacy which their forefathers have started, they are quite uncertain about the future of the legacy. 

Naqash feels that in 30 years Kashmir may lose hand-made embroidery technique. He thinks that the new generation of Kashmir has less respect for the embroidery business and they are not interested in carrying it forward. He hopes that with time Kashmiris may realize that they had “something special” which should be treasured. 

Despite many people preferring machine-made embroidery over handmade embroidery, Kitroo believes that due to coronavirus the market has shifted towards conscious consumption and people are looking at handmade products a bit more. However, people may not buy products like pashmina but economical handmade products like cushion covers, handmade rugs, and bedsheets will be on their list.