It was in the year 2010, that destiny brought us together in Sarfaraz College, where we pursued our Bachelors in Education. Soon we discovered that we shared a lot in common - values, skill set and a creative thought process coupled with an eagerness to achieve something in life.
Even though we were and are teachers, we knew fabric painting and crochet and loved doing it together. Not being trained from any design institute, we improved our skills mainly through online tutorials. What started making stuff for home, gradually gained popularity among our immediate circle of friends and relatives and it was then that we started receiving orders for our work, though on a very small scale. With the passage of time, requests started pouring in and it was then that the concept of CraftWorld Kashmir flashed in our minds. Soon we realized that many people were selling their skills through social media and we decided to use these platforms to grow our business. The initial investment was very low, almost negligible, as our products were made to order.
We strongly believe that fabric painting appeals to young minds. It is a contemporary craft and only adds to the beauty of the fabric, just like traditional embroidery does. We do fabric painting on dresses, bed sheets, curtains and stoles and are trying on more varieties to make it grow. Our crochet collection is what people have loved and appreciated. These crafts were already there in the market, which we have rediscovered by bringing them to a global audience. The main problems which we face in reviving crochet as a craft is the shortage of raw materials in the Kashmiri markets but that doesn’t deter us from creating beautiful pieces of craft, which are customers totally adore.
Our customers can currently reach out to us on social media. We are soon going to launch our first collection on KashmirBox.com and showcase our products for the first time to a wider global audience.
We were lucky to have families who always supported us in fulfilling our dreams. We would love to get more people to be associated with these crafts. Our higher aim is to give these crafts their rightful place in the design market. To all the young women out there, who would want to pursue their dreams which our society considers alien, we would say
1. Trust and have faith in your abilities
2. Let your skills be known.
3. Any door will open if you remain honest in doing whatever you are good at.
To visit an entire collection by Omaira and Beenish and to support their initiative, visit their exclusive collection.