Pavlovo Woolen Shawls

Handkerchiefs and shawls from the ancient town of Pavlovsky Posad occupy a special place among the world-famous unique products making up Russia’s pride and glory. Every year, Pavlovo Posad Shawl Manufactory manufactures about 800 kinds of shawls, wraps, scarves, mufflers, stoles, tablecloths from natural fibers: wool, cotton, silk, linen. The fact that the enterprise has been given the status of a national art craft of Russia means recognition of the high artistic and cultural value of our products.

Unique Pavlovsky Posad school of foulard print has developed on the handcrafted manufactory for more than two hundred years, preserving traditions and honing the skills of artists. The work on each new product begins from the pattern (krok), and its future destiny depends on the correctness of the composition solution and color gamut chosen. All kroks prepared are reviewed and approved by the Arts Council, to which merited artists of the factory, representatives of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and of the Art and Expert Council of the Moscow Region on folk arts and crafts are invited.

A characteristic feature of our craft is the entire collective’s desire to realize the original intent of the artist. Once the pattern is approved, colorists start working on it. Their task is to select recipes for printing inks, achieving the most accurate reproduction of the author’s pattern made with gouache, using textile dyes. The main difficulty of this work is that the true color will be visible only after the fabric processing with steam (this operation is necessary for the dye’s strong fixation on a wool fiber) and washing. Thus, the colorist has to make a lot of trial prints before the final recipe is achieved.

Every pattern is printed in several color variants (color schemes). Depending on the pattern’s difficulty, various ways for applying the pattern on a fabric are used. Printing is carried out on printed tables with automatic printing trolleys and multicolour printing machines. The most important operations are performed manually. Much needs to be done to create a Pavlovsky Posad shawl, unique in its qualities! With a unique design, environmentally friendly and comfortable to wear!

The manufacturing technology combines a solicitous attitude to traditions with the use of the latest achievements of scientific and technical thought. Block models are prepared with the help of a unique direct engraving unit, which, controlled by a computer, puts droplets of melted wax onto the surface of the grid covered with a photoemulsion.