work shawls

A realm of harmony awakens in the stripes and details that compose Khitish's newest shawl. Indian artisans work with traditional techniques to craft this silk piece, whose palette of purple, red, yellow and green hues creates two charming styles for a reversible design.

Mustard yellow and brown chrysanthemums blossom on a luxurious ivory wool shawl by Sajad. Created with fine machine embroidery, the motifs emulate India's traditional aari work, a kind of chain stitch.

Bathed in moonlight, a traditional Ghanaian country home nestles at the foot of a baobab tree. K. Baka conveys sensations of beauty and safety in this beautiful signature shawl. He works in batik on cotton and adds fringe at each end.

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.

Relive the wonders of the ancestral Inca Empire with a sublime creation crafted by its descendants. Proud of their heritage, Raquel and Gregor work with meticulous artistry in a classic loom, weaving a scarf of intense red and yellow hues. Made from baby alpaca, cotton and rayon threads, the piece boasts a soft sensation and a majestic aura.

Woven by hand, traditional West African kente cloth becomes a colorful scarf. Rachel Armah presents a traditional design known as Edwene Si Edwene So. The phrase means "double wisdom as special as gold" in the Akan language. Each strip of kente cloth requires considerable effort, and the looms are worked with both hands and feet. Each color has its own meanings in Asante culture. Green is fertility and new harvest, gold is royalty, black is strength, aging and spirituality, and white is purity.

Shimmering strands of yellow rayon are skillfully worked across green and black threads in this superlative kente cloth scarf. An extremely intricate double weave, its pattern is created primarily on the weft, or horizontal threads of the loom. Great care must be taken so that the blocks of color have same size and match one another when the woven strips are joined. A special stick is used to measure the cloth on the loom so Gobah Tengey-Seddoh names this design Atikpui (measure).

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 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.

Dry clean only.