Pavlovoposadski Print Shawls

Print Shawls produced in Pavlovski-Posad town are a unique phenomenon of Russian culture and are often perceived as one of the national symbols of Russia.

Both Russians and foreigners have always highly estimated traditional Pavlovo-Posadski print shawls. They appeal with the multicolored palette, finest elaboration of floral ornaments, thorough drawing of every flower, among which the rose is a favourite and a sort of a symbol of the Pavlovo-Posadski kerchiefs.

Usually on the corners of the shawl there are large flowers, and the middle is filled with minor, even minute elements, contrasting with the background, often cream-coloured (the colour of natural wool), black or dark-cherry. The shawls are coloured with most saturated tints, which can be 10 to 18, or sometimes even reaching 30 in number. The patterns are arranged in ovals, stars, medallions, or other figures of ornamental stripes and flowery garlands.


The history of origin and evolution of the Pavlovo-Posadsk Print Shawl as one of the Russian arts and crafts is very interesting and, at the same time, quite characteristic of this country. The first record of the manufacture that glorified Pavlovski Posad as a centre of traditional decorative art of shawls with printed designs dates to 1795. Starting its way from a small private plant, this craft has now developed into a large-scale production complex, presently titled Pavlovo-Posadsk Shawl Manufacture.

The enterprise was founded by a well-off peasant named Ivan Labzin. But what is known today as Pavlovo-Posadski print shawls were not produced from the very beginning.

Initially design shawls in Russia were handmade; the works were of high quality, but very expensive. Within a year not more than 10-16 shawls were produced at one manufacture. It could take six months to two years to create one shawl. In the 19th century Jacquard looms were introduced that considerably simplified the weaving process, but it was still too costly for mass production.



Then the technology of fast-printing appeared. In the early 1860s already the ancestors of Ivan Labzin - merchants Yakov Labzin and Vasili Gryaznov – updated the technology at the manufacture and launched production of printed design shawls and kerchiefs.

The printing was made by means of specially carved wooden planks. Initially the pattern design is developed by an artist. Depending on the complexity of tracery a number of printing wood planks were carved. Each colour in the design required a separate plank. So, the more complicated the design was, the more planks were needed. A piece of fabric of the shawl’s size was spread on a frame. The planks with paint were applied to the shawl and in order to impregnate the paint better, they were beaten with a hammer. First the outline of the design was “beaten” into it, and then the main design.

Sometimes, if the design was complicated, it needed up to 400 planks with different colours. Nevertheless, this method made the shawl production much cheaper, and lots of manufactures made use of it.


Today, naturally, the technology is different: the designs are applied by means of photooffset printing or printed with modern machines. However, the artists keep up the traditional style of Pavlovo-Posadski shawls. In recent years the Manufacture has been working on restoration of old ornaments of print shawls.

Source:www.russia-ic.com