Cashmere silk rug is also called kashmiri rug. Cashmere Silk rugs

Cashmere silk rug is also called Kashmiri Rug and Cashmere rugs produced in Kashmir. Nestled in the Himalayas, Kashmir's long and eventful history has left a palpable impression on its arts and crafts. Kashmir is famous all over the world for the beautiful hand-woven cashmere rugs that it produce. Basically a craft brought to India by the Muslim invaders; carpet weaving is therefore strongly reflective of Persian motifs and styling.Thus one can see the centuries long influence of Hindu, Buddhist, and Islamic cultures. Kashmir is famous for its cashmere rug.The main distinguishing feature of cashmere rug is the fact that these cashmere rug is worked on by hand from start to finish.

The cashmere rug is made predominantly in the Srinagar area of Kashmir, and generally confined to the men of the family, though nowadays, women are also entering the trade of cashmere rug. These exquisite creations are hand-knitted on the warp threads, one at a time, in accordance to a strict code of colors in the order of their appearance in the pattern. Often the code is lyricized into a song, which is hummed by the knitters at the time of weaving. The knitted cashmere rug is clipped with shears to smoothness, and then treated with several brightening and protective chemical washes. A relatively simple carpet of size 4 feet by 6feet would up to 3-4 months to complete. The motifs are generally either floral or animals and birds. Cashmere rug has a worldwide appeal for their classic embroidery styles. The fineness and delicacy of these cashmere rug is measured by the knots per square inch they have. Cashmere rug that have higher knots per square inch are considered to be the best and will also cost higher price. These Cashmere Silk floor rugs are so beautiful that they are also used as wall hangings for decorations.

Cashmere rug is known for their fine workmanship. As with other aspects of Cashmere culture, the art of cashmere rug making also displays a strong influence of Persian, Turkish, and Central Asian patterns. The pattern for a cashmere rug is encoded depending on the number of knots per square inch of the pattern. This code is then translated by the weaver as he weaves thus also giving directions to other weavers whom he/she supervises. The number of knots also determines the value and durability of the cashmere rug.

The materials used for cashmere rug making are wool, silk, or a combination of the two. Thus a cashmere rug may be made of pure wool in which case the highest quality is 22x22 (484) knots per square inch. Pure silk cashmere rug may be made on a silk or cotton base. The finer threads used for silk rug make a higher number of knots per square inch possible. Thus the maximum number of knots for a silk carpet could be 1,936 per square inch or 44x44 knots. Cashmere rug dimensions vary from 1 ft x 1 ft to 12 ft x 18 ft.

HimalayanMart offer wide range of cashmere rugs:

24*24 knots cashmere silk rug.
26*26 knots cashmere silk rug.
27*27 knots cashmere silk rug.
28*28 knots cashmere silk rug.
30*30 knots cashmere silk rug.
31*31 knots cashmere silk rug.
32*32 knots cashmere silk rug.
35*35 knots Kashmiri silk rug.

CASHMERE RUG HISTORY

Cashmere rugs and Kashmir and is famous the world over for the beautiful hand-woven cashmere rug that it produces. Basically cashmere rugs are brought to India by the Muslim invaders; cashmere rug weaving is strongly reflective of Persian motifs and styling.The cashmere rugs are made predominantly in the Srinagar area of Kashmir, and generally confined to the men of the family although, nowadays, women are also entering the trade.

These exquisite creations are hand-knotted on warp threads, one at a time, in accordance to a strict code of colors and in the order of their appearance in the pattern. Often the code is lyricized into a song, which is hummed by the knitters at the time of weaving. The cashmere rug is is clipped with shears to make them smooth and then treated with several brightening and protective chemical washes. A relatively simple cashmere rug 4 feet by 6 feet would take 3 to 4 months to complete. The motifs are generally floral or animals and birds.

The History of the cashmere rugs starts in the early fifteenth century. According to early records of Kashmir history, King Zain-ul-Abeedin, better known in Kashmir as (Budshah), brought master cashmere rugs weavers from Persia to train the local craftsmen of the Kashmir valley, who already were master weavers of famous cashmere textile, better known as cashmere Jamavar, cashmere Pashmina and shahtoosh shawls.

Budshah introduced the assembly line system into Karkhana's (factories) for weaving, clipping and washing of cashmere rugs in the 15th century. Because of his personal interest in the development of this industry in Kashmir the cashmere rugs industry flourished during Budshah's reign.

Originally from the down undercoat of the Asiatic goat (Capra hircus laniger) cashmere fibers now also come from 68 breeds of goats in 12 countries, which are classified as cashmere because of a fiber diameter of under 19 microns.

The industry suffered badly after this period and its revival came only during the time of Mughal. However, in the mid 18th century the Dogra's ruled Kashmir. Maharaja Ranbir Singh, the ruler of the time, showed keen interest in the development of carpet industry in Kashmir and it is in his period we see a lot of development in the carpet Industry in terms of quality and production. The cashmere rugs became valuable gifts from one King to another and have been found in almost all the palaces in Central Asia.

In the early 19th century, the Cashmere rugs caught the attention of the west, and it was highly valued among the world's best rug weaving regions. Cashmere rug weaving in the valley got a fresh lease on life when a European companies like The East India Co. and C & M Hador, established karkhana's in the valley and began exporting cashmere rugs to Europe & America.

We have wide collection of cashmere rugs woven by the skillful weavers. The cashmere rugs shown are selected from our own collections. We also accept special request (design/color) of cashmere rug. Please email us for more details.