2 Valley girls experiment with crocheting

Rifat Mohidin

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, October 10

In 2016, when all businesses in Kashmir remained shut for months due to the unrest, two girls from Srinagar — Omaira and Binish — used their time productively by making crochet items.

The crochet items they made were later made available for buyers on their online venture ‘Crafts World Kashmir’.

Though crochet is an old art brought to Kashmir by the British, the duo gave it a new twist. They made bags, hijab pins, choker necklaces, ribbon roses, home decorations, tassel earrings and feet warmers.

“We started our online venture in September 2015 and in July the unrest started. In those months, we knitted a variety of things with the material we had and when the situation returned to normalcy, we uploaded all products online and received a warm response, which kept us going,” says Omaira, who is in her 20s.

Friends for six years, Omaira and Binish had an inclination towards art and craft. They were interested in fabric painting and crochet. The girls have not received any formal training. To polish their art, they relied on online tutorials.

“We used to make things for our family, relatives and friends. As we started getting more orders, we thought why not make it commercial,” says Binish. Both friends recently left their teaching jobs to devote full time to their venture.

In March, the duo experimented with the introduction of hand crafted gotta jewellery (floral jewellery) for brides, which they said, was receiving a good response from young women and had become a trend in Kashmir.

“We have a lot of workload because it’s purely hard work and everything is made with the hand. So, we trained five more girls who help us in knitting the base,” the duo said, who have pursued postgraduation in sociology.

Unlike other entrepreneurs, the girls started their venture with zero investment.

“We have customers from across the country, who order crochet booties, key chains, rubber bands, wall hangings, suits and bridal packages,” they said, adding that they plan to expand and start a physical store.

“The only challenge we face is the unavailability of raw material which we have to procure from other states.”

‘Craft World Kashmir’ turned two this month and has already won many hearts. The girls have 8,000 followers on their Instagram account.