Kashmiri Crewel Duster - Mitti

Our capsule collection of Kashmiri Crewel Duster Coats are heirloom pieces: rooted in a long history of crewel stitch and inspired by the timeless and avant garde patterns of Sonia Delaunay. These coats are a fresh interpretation of a traditional and famed Kashmiri embroidery technique. This piece is crafted in a range of blue shades with highlights in wheat, cream and golden zari.

• Wide-cut body with relaxed silhouette
  
• Dropped shoulders with slightly cropped sleeves and raised, kimono-style collar 
  
• Open fronted with brass buttons
  
• Patch pockets, featuring the initials of the artisan in Urdu or English
  
• Heavy weight outer and fully lined in a silk-cotton blend
  
• Falls to just below the knee
  
• Crafted from heavy-weight, all-over hand embroidered wool crewel stitch on a base of linen
  

Story Behind the Textile

Master craftsmen in Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir, take 150 hours to embroider by hand the roughly 250,000 stitches on each of these coats. Known as crewel work, this technique is a type of free-running embroidery crafted from tight, continuous lines of chain stitch made with a crewel needle.

Although crewel work has been historically crafted around the world - from Mongolia to Britain - it is now most commonly associated with Kashmir. Known locally as jalakdozi, Kashmir has been famous for its exquisite crewel work since the 17th century, when it was a major cottage industry creating cloth for interiors for the European market.

Traditionally, Kashmiri crewel work comprises floral motifs and patterns and is used for furnishings and interiors. We've reimagined the traditional motifs and patterns in a contemporary design, which has been exquisitely executed by our Kashmiri artisans. Any variations or irregularities are part of the design and inherent to the production process.