A Thousand Threads, One Vision
Kani weaving is among the most complex textile arts in the world. Coloured weft is wound onto small spools of Poshtul wood, and the weaver passes them by hand through the warp, one colour at a time, so the pattern is woven into the cloth itself.
Five stages, many months
A shawl may use 150 to 400 kanis. One weaver finishes at most two shawls in a year.
- i.
Design
The motif is drawn and written out as taleem.
- ii.
Yarn
Pure Pashmina from Ladakh is spun by hand on the charkha, then dyed.
- iii.
Warping
The 2-metre warp is prepared by hand.
- iv.
Kanis
Weft yarn is wound onto each wooden kani.
- v.
Weaving
Row by row, the weaver follows the taleem.
A design written as a song
Kani weavers of earlier centuries could not read, so the craft developed its own code of numbers and colour symbols. The weaver chants each line while working, and the same sing-song formula is used to this day.
| 4 | sufed | ivory |
| 2 | lal | madder red |
| 1 | zard | saffron |
| 6 | sabz | green |
| 2 | firozi | turquoise |
The marks of a true Kani
Machine-made copies are everywhere. Every shawl from the House of Kanihama carries these assurances.
GI label and QR code
Each shawl carries the Geographical Indication label and a QR code, so you can verify where and how it was made.
Only hand-spun yarn
Every shawl is woven from pure Pashmina spun by hand on the charkha. We never use machine-spun yarn, and every step, from spinning to weaving, is done by hand.
Check the back
Turn the shawl over. On a real Kani, the pattern shows on the back too, because it is woven into the cloth, not printed or stitched on top. You will also see small loose threads wherever one colour ends and the next begins. A printed shawl is plain or faded on the back, and a machine-made copy looks too even and perfect on both sides.
See it on the loom
Visit Kanihama and watch a Kani shawl being woven.