In 16th century, when Mughal emperors came to Kashmir , they brought Persian carpet weavers with them as well as many other Persian craftsmen. That's why you could see the traditional Persian designs of Kerman, Kashan, and lsfahan in Kashmir carpets as well as their own beautiful local variations.Nowadays,Kashmir carpet weavers make some of the finest silk carpets in the world.
A high quality Kashmir carpet should be handmade from pure wool or pure silk. A lower quality Kashmir carpet may be made out of a combination of wool, rayon, and silk .It's really hard to distinguish which carpet is made up of pure silk and which one is made up of artificial one!
They told me that you
can tell real silk from artificial silk by rubbing the pile
with your palm. The real silk rug feels warm, while the artificial silk one still stays cold!
They also pulled a rayon knot and burnt it ,and it smelled like burnt paper while the real silk smelled like burnt hair as pure silk has protein!
High quality Kashmir carpet usually should have 300-800 knots per square cm. The more knots per square cm, the higher value of the Kashmir carpet.
High quality silk carpets are created on a silk pile but mid range quality carpets are being created on cotton pile which is much cheaper .
silk carpets are made up of at least 80% of silk yarn and it takes at least one year or so for a good silk carpet to be made.Therefore you shouldn't get shocked to see a Kashmir carpet to cost as much as 7 or 8 thousand dollars.
As a Persian girl I had seen the most beautiful carpets of the world back home, but never was expecting almost the same quality there in Kashmir valley!
For some moments I was thinking how we were so close to these people!
They asked me if I could make a knot and it was so interesting for them when they saw I could do it so quickly!
As a matter of fact I learned it from my granny who knew how to make fine Persian carpet years back! Good old days!
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| Shawl and Carpet showroom |
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| That's what you need to weave a rug |
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| I was shocked by Kashmir reading the map style! different from Persian style! |
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| I had never seen the left side tool for cutting the thread as Persians do it with a knife |
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| I knew how to make a knot as I had learned it from my granny |
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| you can see hunting scenes, animal motifs and historic themes in a variety of colors and designs |
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| verities of beautiful kashmiri silk rugs |
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| I loved this silk rug |
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| I really wanted to buy this one but I didn't have enough money |
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| look how behind this rug is accurate ! it was a real silk rug! |
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| A round silk rug |
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| Different designs |
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| The natural beauty of Kashmir,has inspired the carpet weavers |
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