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© Camille Delbos. Local man rolling lenght of woven Chitrali shu after drying.
© Camille Delbos. Local man rolling lenght of woven Chitrali shu after drying.
Last updated: 12 January 2023
We are hosting a 2-year project to document the endangered practice of making shu, a handwoven woollen fabric, characteristic of the Chitral region in northern Pakistan.
The mountainous region of Chitral in northern Pakistan connects Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Xinjiang in northwest China. It is home to a climate-adapted and windproof pure woollen fabric, called shu in the local Khowar language and patti in Urdu. The knowledge and skills of making shu is a renowned heritage of the people of Chitral who turn this famous hand-woven textile into warm clothing for themselves and trade it across borders. The knowledge, skills and social rituals related to the making of shu are endangered due to changes in the climate, an ageing population in the villages and the lack of interest in craft skills from younger generations. This project will document key technical and cultural aspects of this process as it is still carried out and lived by a few families in Chitral through film and interviews.
The project is funded by the Endangered Material Knowledge Programme (EMKP), a grant programme established at the British Museum with support from Arcadia. Responding to momentous changes, this project, led by an independent Scottish-Pakistani researcher in collaboration with the Chitrali women’s cooperative Kho and Kalashi and a Pakistani woman videographer, will preserve the knowledge of making shu for the benefit of the local Chitrali community. The documentation will finally be made publicly accessible in the EMKP’s online archive.
Project title
Documenting endangered knowledge of making Chitrali shu (handwoven woollen cloth) in Chitral, northwest Pakistan
Project active
1 December 2022 – 30 November 2024
Research theme
Identities and Cultural Contacts, Sustainability
Strategic priorities
Reaching out to people across Scotland and the world; Taking action on climate change and environmental impact.
Adil Iqbal, project investigator, cultural practitioner, Scotland & Pakistan
Feroza Gulzar, videographer, Pakistan
Mansura Shams, collaborator, founder of women's cooperative Kho & Kalashi, Chitral, Pakistan
Friederike Voigt, project host, National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh
In December 2022, project lead Adil Iqbal and his team went on their first field trip to the valley of Garam Chashma in Chitral, northwest Pakistan, to document the preparation of wool for the weaving of the renowned Chitrali shu fabric. In this blog post, Adil reflects on the two weeks the team spent in Garam Chashma, meeting individual makers and understanding the ways of life inherent to the creation of Chitrali shu.
Read the blog post
Teased and carded wool. © Camille Delbos
Finished bale of Chitrali shu. © Camille Delbos
Tailor stitching a traditional Chitrali shu coat. © Camille Delbos
Local man wearing traditional Chitrali chogha, a woollen overcoat. © Camille Delbos
Friederike Voigt
