Amnysa Kashmir Art Industry

You can find us at Mahavir Mall on Kamaraj Road, specifically at shop number 6. It’s right across from where Commercial Street Junction starts, so there’s always people walking by. We have a lot of stuff from Kashmir here, like shawls and some of the wood carvings and rugs. The shop is a bit packed because we try to show as much as we can in the space we have. It smells like old wood and wool inside. We spend a lot of our time unpacking boxes that come in and hanging things up so they don't get wrinkled. Sometimes people come in just to look and stay for an hour, which is fine. We talk about the patterns and where the pieces were made. It gets dusty being near the main road, so we’re always cleaning the glass. Working in Mahavir Mall is okay, we know the other shop owners and we usually eat lunch together. We aren't a huge factory or anything, just a place where these traditional things are kept until someone wants to take them home. My hands are usually a bit rough from handling the heavy carpets all day. It’s a small business and we just do our best to keep the shelves full and the lights on for whoever drops by while they’re out shopping. It takes time to get everything right but we don't mind the daily work.