Himalayan Weavers

Hand woven blankets shawls and stoles from the Garwhal Himalayas.

‘Door to the Himalayas’ is working with suppliers and local rural farming communities up in the Garwhal Himalayas to bring you a fine range of high quality handloom sheep, lambs wool and cashmere products including blankets, shawls, scarves, throws and stoles. We work with one small company who produce shawls and stoles of exceptional quality using vegetable dyes and hand spun yarns. Off the beaten track deep in the Garwhal Himalayas, live a lovely couple, Patricia and Alam, who since 1983 have dedicated their lives to promoting the traditional skills of local communities on the Indo Tibetan border.

In the villages of Harsil and Dunda, women are skilled in hand spinning pure pashmina, eri (ahimsa) silk and the finest sheep and lambs wool to produce hand-spun yarn, soft and luxurious to the touch. The softest yarn is then hand-woven to produce the most ‘sattvic’ of meditation shawls.

These fine yarns are then taken to their village workshop where the yarn is lovingly batch- dyed using only natural dyes obtained from the roots, bark and flowers found locally. These include amla, harada, henna, indigo, lac, madder, ratan jyot, tesu, turmeric and walnut.

Finally, they are hand-woven to produce scarves, shawls and stoles that in every way represent the awe inspiring beauty of the surroundings in which they have been produced.