Shamjibhai
Artisan & Partner Stories
Shamjibhai
About
Shamji Vishram Valji is a master weaver, designer, and natural dyer based in Bhujodi village in Kuchchh, India. He comes from a deep artistic legacy: his father and five brothers have won several awards between them, and all share a commitment to tradition. Shamji's weaving and dyeing unit employs 60 families from his village.
While most of his team's day is spent dyeing and weaving, Shamji makes time for design innovation — working with designers in India and abroad, experimenting with new materials and color palettes while keeping his techniques rooted in tradition. He is recognized worldwide for exhibition-quality textiles, and still puts family traditions, technique, and slow, careful skill first.
The Work
The weavers of Bhujodi are known for their “extra-weft” weaving — patterns created on shawls and blankets while the yarn is still on the loom. They work on pit looms, which they continue to use today. Patterns are built by physically lifting individual warp threads with the fingers and inserting the weft to form the design. It is laborious and slow work, requiring deep skill and patience.
For generations, Bhujodi weavers worked primarily in a local wool known as “desi” wool. Shamji and his brothers have innovated over the years — creating stoles, saris, scarves, bed-covers, and patterned yardage using this technique, and adding natural dyes, silk, cotton, merino wool, and a variety of indigenous cotton known as “kala cotton” to their palette.
Impact
- Shamji works with 60 weaver families, including young weavers of the next generation.
- In Bhujodi, weaving has traditionally been men’s work — but women are now beginning to weave using kala cotton, a local varietal.
- Women in weaving families are essential to the craft: mothers, wives, and sisters make the bobbins and form yarn hanks that keep production running.
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