A Woven Life
Image: Qamoos Bukhari for Kashmir Loom
Kashmir Loom has released a memoir of its co-founder Jenny Housego, A Woven Life, published by Roli Books and available on Amazon as an e-book. Housego is a textile historian, entrepreneur, and collector with an eventful and adventurous life-story. Through the memoir, co-written by journalist Maya Mirchandani, Housego tells of the adventurous journey she undertook from war-hit England to the valleys of Kashmir. This was not the life she had planned while growing up during the Cold War. “I had imagined myself sitting astride the Berlin Wall sending entirely wrong information to both the British and German army, while working as a spy!”
As co-founder of the Kashmir Loom Company, Housego has championed a generation of Indian craftsmen. During her nearly three decades in India, she has ventured across the country to sit with weavers and embroiderers to forge new ways of combining their traditional craftsmanship with contemporary designs. She co-founded two successful companies that secured markets for their unique products while putting Indian textiles firmly on the world’s luxury map. Also active in numerous social projects in India, Housego has not only revived ancient weaving techniques that had all-but disappeared but also ensured the livelihoods of families from Haryana to Kashmir and West Bengal.
Image: Qamoos Bukhari for Kashmir Loom
Kashmir Loom was created by Housego and Asaf Ali, together with Ali’s brothers in Srinagar, the lake capital of the Indian province of Kashmir. Housego and the brothers, with their team of master craftsmen have added modern design to the woven and embroidered shawls from Kashmir Valley. Their endeavour has been to preserve heritage while fostering its progress. Production in Kashmir takes place in small family workshops; women sitting at the traditional hand ‘charka’ wheel spin a pure gossamer yarn known the world over as Pashmina. Yarn is then hand-woven by men into a wonderfully supple, soft, yet warm fabric. The end product is a piece of extraordinary workmanship, a distinct impression of the human hand.
For more information visit kashmirloom.com