Maker's Story

Manzoor Ahmed Dar is a simple and modest young man who hails from an archaic village of Budgam. His family had always suffered from extreme poverty issues and having to tolerate hardships and scarcity of even the basic needs was torturous. With no other option to opt for, Manzoor decided to quit his studies and work at the tender age of 10. The most well known Pashmina artists during those times were Beighs, who employed a number of young men and women after properly training them. Manzoor was one of the lucky men who was employed there and because of the hard work he put into learning hand embroidery, he was and is one of their lead embroidery artisans. Manzoor has a unique way of embroidering, different from all of us, a unique way of holding the needle, passing the thread and all other processes which are included in embroidering a shawl. Nevertheless, he is as talented and perfect in his work as those artisans who are double his age. Manzoor has been working with the Beighs for more than a decade now. He starts his work at around 8 am in the morning to 6:00 or 7:00 pm in the evening, with proper tea, prayer and lunch breaks. He works Monday morning to Saturday afternoon, and if work pressure is more than usual, then he, along with all employees work at a stretch of 7 days a week with no holidays. Manzoor is somewhat satisfied, but what haunts him every single time is the phase that the Pashmina industry is currently in. ""The Pashmina industry is experiencing a downfall. We have been inclined towards this craft since childhood, and we earned enough to take care of ourselves and our families. But now the entire scenario has changed. Neither do people wear too much Pashmina now nor are youngsters willing to do this work"" says a somewhat disappointed Manzoor for whom time has again become full of hardships. ""Now we do not earn like we used a decade back. Times have really changed, and the same amount of money that survived our family doesn't seem sufficient for even one person. We want our Government to take some serious steps to revive the craft of Pashmina so that we come out of our these dark times"" The supply chain of Pashmina has also become an issue for poor artisans, as a maximum portion of profits goes to the final seller who interacts directly with a customer. ""We are the real face of a Pashmina shawl, it is our hard work and painstaking efforts which make a plain piece more ethereal with embroidery. But we receive the least credit when it comes to compensation"", complained Manzoor and all other artisans working with Beighs. ""But you can solve this problem"", they added Manzoor And Pashmina.com Pashmina.com works ethically and believes in fair trade. When we give an artisan handmade shawls to embroider, he/she receives the payment immediately, or month-wise, as is discussed with him beforehand. Artisans love and opt to work with us because of our ethical working model which takes into consideration the work, time and energy of all the parties associated with Pashmina making. Manzoor is one of our lead embroidery artisans, and we are looking forward to employees more energetic and honest artisans like him.