Our Story
A town forgot its song.
We came to listen.
The Place
Basohli
Basohli sits where the Shivalik hills begin their climb toward the Pir Panjal range, in Kathua district of Jammu & Kashmir. A town of 8,000 people that most maps barely acknowledge.
But in the world of Indian art, Basohli is a name that resonates. In the 17th and 18th centuries, this small town produced a school of miniature painting — the Basohli school — considered among the most vibrant and expressive in Indian art history. Bold colors, fine detail, a reverence for natural beauty.
What is less known is that Basohli also had a thriving textile tradition. The same artistic sensibility that produced those paintings expressed itself in weaving. Pashmina shawls from Basohli carried a character distinct from those of the Kashmir Valley — patterns influenced by the Pahari aesthetic, techniques adapted to the local environment.
What Was Lost
The silence of the looms
This tradition nearly died. Decades of neglect, competition from machine-made textiles, and the migration of young people to cities left only a handful of weavers still working in Basohli.
When we first visited, we found Master Ghulam Mohammad weaving alone in his home — the last full-time handloom weaver in a town that once had dozens. His loom, over a hundred years old, was still clicking. His hands, at sixty-eight, were still steady. But the house was quiet in a way that no craftsman's workshop should be.
“There was a time when you could hear the looms from the road. Now you have to come inside to know that anyone is still weaving.”
The craft hadn't disappeared because it was inferior. It disappeared because no one was paying attention. Machine-made “Pashmina” — often not Pashmina at all — flooded the market at a tenth of the price. Buyers couldn't tell the difference. Weavers couldn't compete. One by one, they put down the shuttle.
The Revival
Why we started
The Pashm Project began with a simple conviction: that Basohli's textile heritage is worth reviving. Not as a museum piece, but as a living craft — producing shawls that people wear, cherish, and pass down.
We work directly with the weavers and embroidery artists of Basohli. No middlemen. No factory floors. Every shawl is made in the artisan's own home, on their own loom, at their own pace.
We don't just sell shawls. We tell you who made them, how they were made, and why they matter. Because a Pashmina without its story is just fabric. With its story, it's an inheritance.
What Makes Us Different
Most Pashmina brands sell the product.
We sell the origin, the person, and the process.
Origin-Specific
Not “from Kashmir.” From Basohli — a specific town, with specific traditions, specific people. We don't blur the origin. We name it.
Artisan-First
Every shawl carries the name and story of the person who made it. The human behind the craft is as visible as the craft itself.
Slow by Design
We don't scale. We don't rush. A shawl takes as long as it takes. Our weavers work in natural light, at their own pace, without deadlines.