The exquisite and exotic carpets of Jammu & Kashmir are world famous. Thousands of local artisans are involved into carpet making and the carpet making factories are one of the most important industries of Jammu & Kashmir. These carpets called as Kalin are not only the major part of Jammu & Kashmiri home furnishing but also an integral part of local culture. The handcrafted or machine weaved carpets are exclusively designed and synonymous to the identity of Jammu & Kashmir. There are 800 carpet factories alone in Bari Brahmana area of Jammu. There’s lot of issues regarding child labourers in carpet factories but as unemployment is also very prominent in this region so these carpet factories also provide them mode of livelihood. Here are some of the clicks from my recent visit to the Shalimar Carpet Industries Bari Brahmana in Jammu & Kashmir.

The Jammu & Kashmir Carpets resemble Central Asian styles like Bokhara and Turkish makes which is why they are exclusive too. Several types of carpets like synthetic,cotton,wool, silk or even cotton wrap mixed about woolen weft are produced in Jammu & Kashmir.The motifs are used mostly as floral,medallion,geometric, diamond, god or goddess. The large size floral or plant motifs are also common in the region. The geometrical motifs are leaves pattern, herringbone, latch hook or tree of life types. The colour base of these carpets are prominently red,maroon,blue,beige,ivory,golden and green.

The knotting in these carpets are another important aspect while choosing a carpet and also affect the price like in an handcrafted Kashmiri Carpet normally 800 to 2000 knots are found and the price increase accordingly. The Kashmiri Carpet is considered investment for life. Buying these carpets make wonderful travel stories too.

The usual size of a carpet varies from4’8′, 5’7” to 6’9” or 6’10” for a large size carpet. The runners and rugs or smaller carpets for central table etc range from 2’5” to 3’5” or 3’6”. The 5’7” carpets are good enough for a medium size room and these sizes can easily be used for sleeping,seating or just as floor decorative in the drawing room. The rugs and runners can be used as bedside floor covering or also as wall decoration. The round shaped rugs are exclusive and can be hung onto the wall to increase. The lustrous appearance of a carpet enhances the decoration of a room.

The price of carpets varies greatly. Like the hand woven kashmiri carpets rice extremely high as Kashmiri artisans take around a year to weave one carpet. While the machine weaved carpets made in automatic factories in Jammu region range usually INR 100-200 for synthetic carpets and INR 300-350 for woolen carpets.The woolen carpets are thicker and good for home furnishing in colder regions though.

The Bari Brahmana area of Jammu alone has 800 carpet factories. These wholesale manufacturer of carpets in Jammu are so famous that people from all across the nation arrive here to buy these carpets in bulk at wholesale rates. There are many carpet dealers in and around areas of Jammu city which buy carpets at the wholesale rate from here and later sell it at double the price. Crores of Jammu Kashmir business is based on carpet industries which is  run everyday by the carpet manufacturers,exporters and suppliers in Jammu.Among these Shalimar carpet industry or Visan industries are notably popular.

Along with carpets hand woven rugs, designer hand woven rugs, printed rugs, bedside runners, doormats are all made in these factories. The wall to wall carpeting and complete flooring are also popular aspects. The round shaped rugs and runners are also weaved. And  here this golden red beauty of 6*10 feet dimension is what I bought for me.

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