The Silk Carpet Weavers of Kashmir

The head of the Indian Label STEP office has visited the Indian Kashmir region. At the moment, a normalisation of the difficult situation in the region begins to show. A long-term stability in economy and security would also be for the benefit of the carpet industry in Kashmir.

India is a big country. For almost two and a half days Mayank Srivastava, head of the Indian Label STEP office, has been travelling overland. The journey of 1'600 kilometres lead from Varanasi in the carpet belt of India, where the Label STEP office is situated, to Srinagar in the Kashmir region. The city with one million inhabitants is the administrative centre of the region and is situated on a plateau surrounded by the Himalayan mountains. The region is rich in culture and natural beauty which is most probably one of the reasons why Kashmir is often called 'Indian Switzerland'. “I am full of confidence that the situation in the Kashmir region will reach further stability and that Label STEP will soon be able to run developmental projects apart from the verification of working conditions. Exporters appear to be open for Label STEP projects and monitoring“, as Srivastava states.

The most delicate silk carpets of India

The Kashmir region is famous for its silk carpets and has a weaving tradition of centuries. Today, carpets are produced at home in the villages of the Kashmir valley as well as in smaller workshops with four to eight looms in the central city of Srinagar. The production region stretches over hundreds of kilometres. At the looms, masters and apprentices, who are called 'Ustaads' and 'Shagirds' in Arabic, are working together. The master weaver reads out the colours of a carpet in production in a kind of recitative, the apprentice makes the respective knots. The teamwork at the carpet, which demands the highest degree of concentration, is done in the rhythm of the recitative of the master. Silk is the most valuable raw material for carpets which is processed in complex patterns and with a density of up to one million knots per square meter to become a carpet as piece of art. Proficient weavers work for several months from the first knot to a completed silk carpet.

Fair trade in all carpet regions of India

After years of war and terrorism, the situation in Kashmir has finally eased slightly. Further normalisation of the security situation would support the local carpet industry and long-term trade relationships and at the same time form a solid foundation for strengthening fair carpet trade. “At the moment, tourism and other industries in Kashmir are on the increase. I think that the carpet industry of Kashmir with its high quality products will see a boom in the following years”, Mayank Srivastava is convinced. A stable security situation would also be the best basis for intensifying the Label STEP activities on behalf of the carpet weavers of Kashmir.