Hunza valley embroidery
Tan Cushion Cover with Red Bloom on Striped Stem
Cushions
On a warm tan ground, a tall striped stem rises into a large scarlet bloom flanked by smaller red flowers and broad olive-green leaves, framed by a dark indigo border of small rust-red florets. The stylised flowering plant recalls the qalmi long-and-short floral work characteristic of Hunza embroidery, where blossoms and foliage are built up in graded silk shading. Worked in the manner of silk floral needlework on a woven ground, it brings an Arts-and-Crafts warmth to a sofa or reading chair.
The tradition
Hunza valley embroidery
Embroidery is the secret weapon behind Hunza Carpet, and the cushion covers are where it is most intimate. The tradition grows out of the pillbox caps that Hunza women embroidered for their own use, worked with Chinese silk that arrived over the passes on Silk Route caravans.
Today educated women artisans embroider cushion covers with the same fine silk-thread stitches, reviving old cap-and-veil designs alongside new compositions for the home.
Motifs & meaning
Reading the design
Cushion designs draw directly on the names and meanings recorded in Hunza's embroidery tradition.
Turangkish
Ibex horns — the emblem of the Karakoram's wild goat.
Tamuts
The snow leopard, elusive guardian of the high mountains.
Urki itsu
A wolf's foot, a protective tracking motif.
Kishtimuts
A boat, recalling travel and the crossing of waters.
Materials & technique
How it is made
Hand-embroidered in real silk thread using Hunza's traditional stitches — erāghi cross and roll stitch, qalmi long-and-short floral work — on a woven ground.
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