Yesterday on a little shopping outing to the cool and elite complex, Santushti,Delhi. Which by all appearances seems to be based in what used to be an airforce barracks, the shops are all in small huts which must have been 'dorms' in their previous lives. The area is beautifully landscaped with gardens and lawns which give a 1930's home counties atmosphere. In this complex I had the great fortune to come across the Naqsh, and meet the owner Nazir Wani and his son and daughter Suhail and Sumiya. As we got talking, Suhail began to tell me of their family buisiness, and the intricate embroideries they have been doing for 100's of years. Originating in Iran but then moving on to Cashmere. Then he bought out these samples. They are the families sample books and you can make an order for the finest embroidered pashmina you can imagine. The stitches are so fine that you can hardly see them all with the naked eye.
These are the real thing. The family has the yarns spun and fabrics woven and then can be embroidered, Nazir himself was a master embroiderer, but find now he does not have a steady enough hand. I saw one shawl that he had taken three and a half years to embroider. The work is simply breath taking!
One of these pashminas with an embroidered border will cost around £1000 and take about a year to make as the stitcher can only give the required concentration for about an hour a day.
Naqsh have also been putting their efforts into preserving the Kashmir crewel work and have a surprising contemporary line with pieces base on artist like Klimt and Miro.
Contact Nazir Wani
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