Other than wool...

As well as visiting Garam Cheshma I also went to see some Kalasha friends who were celebrating Joshi, their Spring festival. The Kalash Valleys were looking hyper-bucolic, and everyone seemed heathy and happy, especially all the young people who were glammed up in the knowledge that it is marriage season. Young men let off steam with hearty pursuits like rock lobbing and wrestling. 

I also spent some time with Scottish fashion designer Adil Iqbal who is currently running a very exiting project which links local embroiderers with tweed makes from the Western Isles of Scotland. Adil fixed up my trip to see shu being made at Garam Chesma, so I owe him some serious thanks for that.

... Back From The Hindu Kush

I had a wonderful time! It was very exciting to visit Garam Cheshma the village, high in the mountains on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan where shu is made. The setting was exquisitely beautiful and the people involved in making shu were at once dignified and also very helpful to me. To witness the spinning and weaving processes was something else, the machines used could have been plucked from a scene hundreds of years ago. It would be wrong to understand them as primitive though, they were obviously efficient and ergonomic. The skill involved in using them was impressive and I now have a much better understanding of the labour which goes into the fabric.

I have pasted some screen captures from the film I took at Garam Cheshma below.

Off to the Hindu Kush!

I apologise for the lack of posts over the past couple of weeks, but my spare time has been taken up with organising a trip to Pakistan. I leave on Friday and I am back on the 20th. Whilst out there I hope to film, photograph and interview the wonderful makers of shu!

I also want to visit these people for their famous Spring festival...

...and visit these people on their high altitude wanderings.

...and perhaps squeeze in a couple of days in this celestial valley!

Top photograph curtsey of Matan Rochlitz.