PAISLEY
Saturday, 13th October, 2007
PAISLEY
Historically, travelers came to India for spices and traditional patterns. Indian fabric was exported to the rest of the world as it was the Indians who possessed the knowledge and skill set when it came to patterning unique and recherché prints and weaves on cloth. The paisley, adapted from the Iranian floral motif called the buta, which originated in Safavid dynasty of Persia (1501-1736), has been India’s one of biggest global exports.
An oriental pattern motif, shaped like a teardrop, it is rounded at one end with a curving point at the other. Born in the looms of Kashmir, the curling vine motif was far from realistic as it was intrinsically stylized in design and seemed as if it had burst out of an almond seed. Woven onto jamawars in an extremely sophisticated manner, it became very expensive. There was no comparable pattern elsewhere that could come even close to its grandeur.
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| BUTA | JAMAWARS |
In Europe, it was always about velvets and wool, which was why paisley was so sought after. Traditionally used on cashmere shawls taken to Europe by soldiers returning from the colonies, it was an important decorative motif in imitation cashmere shawls. During the 18th and the 19th centuries, the British and the French governments imposed a ban against importing paisley patterns from India fearing that their patterns would get killed. Almost immediately, they replicated looms in Lyon in France and Paisley in Scotland.
SAFAVIDS
Soon, thousands of replicas were woven and printed. This curbed India’s exports and the industry suffered a setback. Today looms do not exist in Kashmir. The paisley is an aesthetic global export which is why some of us have worked relentlessly to ensure that it gets its due share under the sun. We are now using it relevantly on cravats, shirts and silk dressing gowns. We have to make the world realise that the paisley has its home in India and not anywhere else.
