The Kani shawls are woven with special woolen needles called Kanis in Kashmiri, hence the name Kani shawls. Made by special weaving techniques one Kani shawl takes at least a year or two to make depending on the design. It is virtually a piece of art woven into a shawl. These exquisite Kani shawls have been a favourite of Mughal emperors. These shawls owing to heir extraordinary beauty and time consuming making the process very exclusive as well as quite expensive, purchased mostly by the very affluent. Over the years by the early 20th century the production of these shawls became a thing of the past. Attempts were made to revive the Kani shawls making but did not yield desired results. It was Hashmat whose persistence and enterprise finally revived this long lost fabulous shawl making art and by the mid-1990s the Kani shawls started reappearing in the market. Had it not been for Hashmat's efforts the resplendent Kani shawls would have remained a part of history and confined to the few pieces in museums or owned by affluent private collectors.
