Mohammad Yousuf Dar and his wife, Shameema, feel crossed in front of their loom, skillfully tieding consecutive knots to create the floral patterns of the famous puppy carpets that are now through the sweetness that trap.
The genuine knuckle knuckles carpets are made of pure silk and some pure wool. The generations of artisans have transmitted for centuries through the ship to guarantee their survival, and although the carpets are expectations, most artisans can barely reach the end of the month.
“I simply help my husband to have a minimum or a decent income to administer our home,” said Shameema, 43, while she and Mohammad rhythmically hurried to the colorful silk threads in their workshop little enlightened in Indian-Administ, Srinag, Srinag, Srinag, Srinag, Srinag, Srinag, Srinag, Srinadaded.
They periodically look at a piece of yellowish paper, known as Talem, or instructions, which show the pattern in which they are working on an old symbols of symbols and number and a cryptic color map.
Mohammad and Shamema learned the trade at the ages of nine and 10, respectively.
The industry has survived decades of conflict over the disputed region between India and Pakistan and has resisted fashion fashion to remain in demand, mansions and museums that adorn.
However, Kashmir merchants say that the tariffs of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, can give a hard blow to an already threatened business that competes to survive in the midst of carpets produced in mass, which are less expensive, and artisans who leave the industry.
Although the tariffs were mainly aimed at main exporters such as China, they have been inadvertently and caught in the traditional handicraft industries of regions such as Kashmir, which came off from US and European markets for survival.
Carpet exports from India to the US are valued at approximately $ 1 billion, of a total global export value or $ 2 billion, according to official data.
Mohammad, 50, said he is the only weaver who remained more than 100 who moved to other works about 20 years in his neighborhood in the old center of the city of Srinagar.
“I spend months knotting a single back, but if there is no demand, our skills feel useless,” he said.
Even so, thousands of families in Kashmiro depend on this trade for their livelihood, and the strong rate of 28 percent imposed by the US. UU. It means that imported carpets will become significantly more expectations for US consumers and retailers.
“If thesis carpets will be more exenous in the United States, does that mean that our salaries will also increase?” Mohammad asked.
It is not likely.
The highest cost for consumers in the US.
This price increase could also push buyers to cheaper and machine -made alternatives, leaving Kashmir artisans in the stake.
Experts say that, unless international trade policies change to protect traditional industries, Kashmir’s hand legacy can continue fraying until it disappears.
Wilayat Ali, an provider of asshorats from Kashmir, said that its commercial partner, which exports carpets to the United States, Germany and France, has already canceled at least one request for boxes in process.
“The exhibition also returned some boxes of boxes,” he said. “It is reduced to the hard arithmetic of profits and loss,” Ali explained. “They don’t see thousands of clubs on a carpet that takes months to do.”