This giant Qaleen might be, what artisans say, a ray of hope for traders to make a presence in the Gulf
A Qaleen is a hand-knit oriental rug from Kashmir valley in India which is associated with Kashmiri handicrafts. It has an intricate design that is primarily floral and has a range of colours, sizes, and mostly quality. They are made using pure wool and silk.
These carpets typically involve significant and culturally important motifs such as the paisley, maple tree which is also called locally as the tree of life and is a symbolic representation of the age-old Kashmiri tradition of hospitality, warmth and love. The indigenous brilliance of local craftsmen has made Kashmiri carpets one of the most sought in the world.
Around 60 artisans from Kashmir are weaving over a 275-square-metre-long hand-woven carpet at Wailoo, Pattan area of North Kashmir in Baramulla district.
The work on the carpet began in the year 2016. The project was expected to be completed in 2021 but due to the COVID-19 restrictions and political disturbances in the Valley, they were not able to complete it. However, it is now expected to be completed by the end of 2022, as 90 per cent of the work has been done.
Around 60 artisans from Kashmir are weaving over a 275-square-metre-long hand-woven carpet at Wailoo, Pattan area of North Kashmir in Baramulla district
Fayaz Ahmed Shah, a Srinagar based businessman, who runs this project claims the carpet will be Asia’s biggest. Shah, who owns a firm ‘Shah Qadir and Sons’ is a resident of Safa Kadal, Srinagar.
“Opportunities come when you try to seek them,” he said.
“The order that I received is from a Gulf country. The buyers tried very hard for this project to get completed. They even went to Iran but were very much interested in Kashmiri carpets that are made out of silicon-based silk. Shah said that the order was not just one but three carpets. “This is for a very important person,” he said.
After the buyers approached him, Shah sent the samples for which he had to work very hard. “We used the best material that we could, and tried our best to design it very intricately. By Allah’s grace, it was passed there and we managed to get the order,” he said.
The cost of the carpet has not been estimated yet but will be done after it is exported to the Gulf country.
“Kashmir has never manufactured the biggest carpet like this. It was challenging initially. The contract of completion was seven years and we had assured the buyer that it would be completed within three years,” Shah said.
He added that finding the appropriate loom for this carpet was one of the most difficult jobs because it’s not a small carpet. “You can say that it’s Asia’s biggest carpet with a width of 40 feet and length of 72 feet. No carpet of such dimensions has ever been produced here in Kashmir. If I ever receive any such order again, I’ll always give my best. Being a Kashmiri, this craft is, you can say, settled in our veins. My father too was in this profession and since my childhood, we have been in touch with other craftsmen too,” Shah said.
As per the Guinness Book of World Records, the world’s largest hand-woven carpet measures 5,630 square metres and was manufactured by an Iranian carpet company. It was created for a mosque based in Abu Dhabi in Dubai in 2007.
The carpet was divided into nine parts and assembled in the mosque. The carpet would have been around 6,000 square meters originally, but parts of it had to be taken away in order to fit it onto the floor in the mosque.
“There’s a huge difference between this carpet and the other ones that we usually make. You can call it the Kohinoor of the carpet industry. As Kohinoor cannot be compared with other gems, similarly we cannot compare this carpet to other normal carpets. I didn’t try to get any support from the government. Everything that I did was on my own,” he said.
Shah added that when they were given the order, they decided to work two shifts back to back. But given the prevailing situation in Kashmir, they couldn’t do so. “This is the reason that this carpet is taking some extra time in its completion. But we hope that it will be completed by the end of this year since we have already completed 90 per cent of the work. To me, teamwork is a fundamental factor for the success of any project. So, when we know how to maintain social cohesion with our workers, no project is impossible.”
Shah said the government has not done the needed amount of work for this industry. The industry requires looms that produce carpets and carpets need a market, quality material and silk, but till now, the government has not taken any initiative for the supply of such materials to Kashmir.
“This craft of carpet weaving has now become a dying art of Kashmir. There are a lot of factors responsible. The main factor is the financial part. The artisans working on these carpets don’t earn the appropriate amount of wages due to which they are losing interest. In order to make this project a success, we had to do an assessment of the wages of these artisans. Only then we were able to make them work for it,” said another artisan Habibullah Shiekh, who is a contractor for these 60 artisans.
The carpets from Kashmir usually find a market in the Western countries as the Iranian markets have penetrated the Gulf countries and leave no space for the Kashmiri carpets. This giant Qaleen might be, what artisans say, a ray of hope for traders to make a presence in the Gulf.
Mudasir Rawloo is an independent multimedia journalist based in Kashmir. His work has been published in national and international agencies. He tweets @Mudasir_Rawloo. Sajad Hameed is a freelance journalist based in Kashmir. He tweets @sajadhameedpics.
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