Fine Cashmir Craft

Our workshop, Fine Cashmir Craft, is tucked away near the Zadi Masjid in the Sekidafer Safakadal area. It is an old part of the city with narrow streets and a lot of local history. You can hear the call to prayer from the mosque while we sit at our frames working on the embroidery. The rooms are filled with soft fabrics and bundles of colorful silk and wool threads waiting to be used. We do not have a big storefront with glass windows or signs. Instead, we work out of a traditional building where the floors are covered with rugs for us to sit on while we work. It is a very quiet kind of task that requires a lot of patience and steady hands. Sometimes we spend all day just on one small section of a pattern. The lighting is not always perfect inside, so we move closer to the windows when the sun is out. Visitors often have a hard time finding us the first time because the alleys all look very similar. We usually offer a cup of tea to anyone who stops by to see what we are making. There are often several generations of the same family working together in the same room. We do not use fancy machines; most of what we do is just by hand with simple needles and wooden frames. It is a way of life for us here.