CASHMERE

At Asia Gardens 5* Luxury Hotel, we won’t stop discovering surprises from the Asiatic continent. Today we want to tell you about fashion and India, more precisely about cashmere and the pattern equally named.

The cashmere has its origin at the Cashmere Valley, which finds its place in a group of mountains in the Indian states of Jamuu and Cashmere.  In this part of the world grows the Cashmere goat, so it is the animal that names this precious material.

The cold and the height of the zone, together with a good feeding, cause the wool to have a perfect shine and a unique touch. When spring comes, the goat sheds the wool and it has to be recollected in that exact moment. Unlike other processes, in this case the wool is carded instead of sheared, with a previous washing and combing to make it softer and without any imperfection.

It is funny that, despite the technological advances, this wool is still being collected as we just told you. Tradition is kept because it is the only way to get perfect cashmere. It has a very humble origin, but it is one of the most expensive materials used for sweaters, ties and scarves.

In the same Cashmere Valley, the inhabitants who couldn’t read or write had a very peculiar way of warning everyone that the harvest was about to start: they painted their fists with ink and stamped it everywhere for everyone to see. The shape that left this action was like a drop of water or an amoeba, a design that began to be woven.

Later, they began to stamp this design on cloths, getting a very original and unique effect. It became fashionable in the high classes, later they stamped it on carpets and shawls, and finally it was named paisley after a Scottish village. In the XVII century, the British Company of Orient India made the design popular and started selling it.

We love to research the origins of the simplest things that surround us, and we love it even more if it has to do with Asia. At Asia Gardens we invite you to know something else every week and to relax in a unique location while you keep learning. We are waiting for you.