cream shawls

The Peruvian textile arts reach another point of luxurious and radiant beauty with Raquel and Gregor's newest design. The team works on a traditional loom to create this soft scarf, whose yarns of baby alpaca, cotton and rayon allow a comfortable sensation. With yellow as the main color, this fringed piece boasts the sun's luminous grace.

Shine on those spring and summer days with a bewitching design directly from India. Crafted using silk yarns, Rajnandinee and Srabonti's shawl features a traditional hand-block paisley print in a palette of gold and white tones that create a cheerful aura around the accessory.

Designer Arnab Roy draws inspiration from classical themes to create a stylish shawl from wool and silk. Working with Indian artisans, the team adds paisley motifs to the accessory, which features a palette of chartreuse and warm hues, and is finished with elegant tassels at each end.

Golden highlights add a regal touch to this superlative textile by the Gobah-Tengey family. Created in rich kente cloth strips, its name means "Conference in Angola." Takpekpe was designed in 1950 by the late Atsu Gobah Tengey-Seddoh to commemorate a special meeting called by the colonial governor to discuss an additional tax or levy being imposed on the subjects. The conference raised voices against the payment of the special levy.

Expert weavers, the Gobah Tengey-Seddoh Family creates this outstanding shawl in 100% cotton. Each strip requires considerable effort, and the looms are worked with both hands and feet. Strips are generally three to four inches wide and seven to ten feet long, and the length of time it takes to complete one strip varies by the complexity of the chosen pattern. The simplest use mostly vertical, or warp patterns, and an experienced weaver can make several of those in one day. But patterns with nearly all weft (horizontal thread) patterns where the warp design is hardly visible can take up to four days to complete an individual strip. Each color has its own meanings in Asante culture. Green is fertility and new harvest, gold is royalty, black is strength, aging, and spirituality, while white is purity. The patterns themselves are carefully chosen symbols, which a master weaver develops and names, often to honor people, historical events, or proverbs.

Hand wash in cool water and use a warm iron.