Shawloona

ishly blessed with beauty in all forms—be it in the rare green eyes of the mountain people, or the embroidery stitches in the large shawls of the women covered from head to toe. Every wall, corner, article, and eye is embellished with ancient architecture, stories of Sufism, and myths and legends of the past and present world. Artisans of Pakistan have successfully weaved happiness out of chaos on the borders of shawls and dupattas, replicating their dreams and imaginations on an empty canvas. Shawloona started because we desired the world to take a pleasing glimpse of this fluid art created by these blessed, creative and hardworking individuals. When we first visited Northern Pakistan, it came to our knowledge that people here possess the skill of creating hand-woven Pashmina shawls from “the soft gold”. This exceptional skill is not only possessed by families but whole villages and it has been transferring from one generation to another for centuries. The process of making these shawls starts in the glory of spring when the Pashmina goats shed their under-belly hairs, which lies under the layer of course and thick outer hair. The process is tender and does not harm the goats as the hair is gathered through gentle caressing and combing. These hairs are regrown by the next winters. Once, the hair is attained from the goats, it is stretched to clean any impurities. Later, it is glued with pounded rice, to provide it strength, moisture and extra softness. The process is followed by spinning, weaving, cleaning, dying and steaming/ironing. The whole complex procedure is exclusively done by hand.

“Why to keep the world deprived of such intricate handicraft?”, we thought. Therefore, we started the venture with extreme dedication to bringing to our customers the purest form of Pashmina. Simultaneously, empowering and uplifting the uncelebrated local skilled hands, so that they can achieve their dreams for their families and continue to pursue their ­­creativity.