Jawahar Kala Kendra never ceases to attract Jaipurites with its variety of exhibitions and events. This time, the courtesy of JKK has brought for you an exposition of handicrafts of Jammu and Kashmir organised by the directorate of handicrafts, Jammu and Kashmir government, till 7th January. Jaipur Beat dropped in to catch a glimpse of the commendable expo and returned unapologetic-ally with bags full of Kashmiri craft and stories.
The exhibition has 25 stalls for you to choose from. With intricate handcrafted merchandise, you’ll find for yourself a variety of shawls, phiran, overcoats, caps, handbags, socks, pashmina sarees, stoles, mufflers, gloves, wall hangings, dry fruits, kahwah and the list goes on.
The shop owners have all kinds of pashmina ranging anything between Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,00,000.
Suhaib, attending Shop No. 14, came a long way from Srinagar to entice us with his elaborate collection of handcrafted shawls. He unfolded an elegant pashmina shawl with the infamous silk thread needlework. This needle work is usually done by a single person to ensure homogeneity of design and it takes around a year to complete one shawl.
Although the art on these shawls is priceless, it will cost around 80,000- 90,000 rupees to own one of these.
Rozie, a beautiful woman clad in pink, matching the color on her cheeks, has a collection of the most exotic walnuts. She has for sale Kashmiri dry fruits, kahwa and kesar. The special item on her stall is the rare walnuts which grow on trees found only in their region. The region itself has no more than 150 trees. These are consumed specially to control sugar and cholesterol and cost Rs2000/kg.
If you feel winter shawls are not for you, then what Mr Wani has for you is something you’ll never be able to say no to. Shop No. 8 has for you a range of summer as well as winter shawls so you can enjoy the handcrafted beauty of Jammu and Kashmir round the year.
Haseena Parwez of Shop No. 22 has been in the handicraft business for about 22 years now. She has a stupendous collection of pashmina, which are crafted by a number of women who work under her organization of Urban Development Agency. She has been rewarded with the Entrepreneurship award 4 times by the NBCFDC. She has taught this art to around 8000 women till date.
The expo is full of such craft with fascinating stories behind them. What we suggest you is to visit the exhibition for some beautiful handicraft to add to your collection and to look at the complexity of the work that these artisans yield.
Blog Credits: Siddhi Modi- an intern at Jaipur Beat.
Pic Courtesy: Mridushi Jain.
Jaipur Beat 