JAMAWAR is a special type of shawl made in Kashmir. “Jama” means robe and “war/var” is chest and metaphorically body. The best quality of Jamawar is built with Pashmina. Most of the designs seen today are floral, with the kairy as the predominant motif. Historically handmade original Jamawar shawls are highly valued & are very expensive.
Due to its rich and fine raw materials, the rich and powerful merchants used Jamawar and noblemen of the time, who could not only afford it but could even commission the weavers to make the fabric for them, as in the case of the Mughals. Emperor Akbar was one of its greatest patrons.
We have artisans who have expertise in manufacturing of special type of shawls known as Kani shawl. One Kani Jamawar shawl takes 6 months to 24 months based on design. These shawls are very expensive and always the fashion statement of the royals.
The stole is a flamboyant Kani weave, which was set into a timeless trend by Empress Josephine.
First, the design is drawn on a graph paper (Image 1) then the design is filled with desired colors (image 2).
The design is written by color code technique which has a particular symbol for each color (image 3). The artisan keep the written code in front of him while working on the Stole/Scarf & shawl/wrap (image 4).
WEAVING OF KANI JAMAWAR SCARF/STOLE & SHAWL/WRAP