Weaves of the Valley
Apparel|January 2020
Varuna Anand has long since championed handwoven, hand-embroidered pashmina shawls, distilling this very aspiration into her brand The Splendor of Kashmir. Meera Warrier speaks with her to know more.
Meera Warrier
Weaves of the Valley

An entrepreneur who started at the age of 42, Varuna Anand has built a successful and sustainable business that aims to bring practitioners and admirers of pashmina weaves to work together. In nine years, she has also been acknowledged as one of the Creative Women Entrepreneurs at the BW Disrupt Women Entrepreneurship Awards 2019. She shares her story and brand growth in an exclusive interaction with Apparel.

WHAT WAS THE IDEA BEHIND STARTING THE SPLENDOR OF KASHMIR?

The Splendor of Kashmir (SOK) started with an idea of being a bridge between the well-deserving craftsmen and admirers of this ancient art. I think that we can term it as a combination of various factors such as destiny, being in the right place at the right time, and so on. Having lived in Delhi, I was well aware of the kind of shawls that reach the end consumer. After coming to Jammu and Kashmir by virtue of my marriage in 2002, I started observing the drastic difference in the shawls draped by the ladies in Jammu and Kashmir and ones that were available in other metro cities. The difference was astonishing, and this was one of the prime reasons that we decided to carry this renowned Kashmiri handicraft to admirers and collectors elsewhere.

HOW HAS THE JOURNEY BEEN LIKE?

This story is from the January 2020 edition of Apparel.

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