Kullu and Kinnauri Shawls
Kinnauri shawls:
Known for the its intricate designs and finesse in weaving, Kinnauri Shawls are piece of art. Its detailed geometrical designs bear a prominent Central Asian influence and has motifs with symbolic and religious significance. The colours used for background are white, black, natural grey and brown, and for patterning are red, orange, pink, blue, green, yellow, black and white. Out of these five colours represent five elements—white stands for water, yellow for earth, red for fire, green for air and blue for ether. The patterned borders increases labour cost, making these shawls more expensive than Kullu Shawls. Though the shawls for commercial use are woven on the frame loom, pitlooms are still used for the local use. Here the weaver weaves it in two pieces of half width each and later joins them from the center with elaborate hand stitching. This serves the dual purpose of function and ornamentation. An average Kinnauri shawl takes 45 days to complete.
Kullu Shawls:
Kullu has been famous for its shawls with easy geometrical patterns and bright colours. Besides geometrical designs, the shawls are also woven in floral designs, which may run all over, on the corners or on the borders only. Each design may have one to 8 colours. Traditionally, bright colours like red, yellow, magenta pink, green, orange, blue, black and white were used for patterning and white, black and natural grey or brown were used as the base in these shawls. But in the present times keeping in mind the customer demand, pastel colours are replacing these bright colours gradually. Mill spun yarn dyed in various colours is used for the ground, while a vast range of acrylic colours is used for the pattern in the border. These shawls are available in Sheep Wool, Angora, Pashmina, Yak Wool and handspun material. The yarn used may be chemically dyed or vegetable dyed. Price of any shawl depends upon quality of wool and the number and width of patterns used in it. Owing to the high cost of labour involved in the sorting of fine pashmina fiber, the shawls prepared from pashmina wool are expensive.
