KOEL

Company Description

Noorjehan Bilgrami, a pioneer in the preservation of the craft traditions in Pakistan, established KOEL in 1977, primarily to revive the hand-block printing craft which by then had almost ceased to exist. Introducing this age-old craft to home furnishing and women’s apparel, she popularized it to such an extent that within ten years, scores of block-printing karkhanas (workshops) KOELre set up by entrepreneurs in Karachi alone, providing jobs to hundreds of craftsmen. KOEL produces exclusive apparel and home furnishings from natural-dyed hand-loom cottons, silks and wool. These are exported to the prestigious Jurgen Lehl and Co. in Japan and to Kosoen, the traditional Aizome (indigo) dyers. Kosoen’s atelier in Ome draws many tourists to their picturesque surrounding in the outskirts of Tokyo. KOEl’s exports extend to buyers in USA and Canada. Over the years, numerous exhibitions and fashion shows featuring apparel and hand-woven, naturally dyed fabrics from KOEL have been held in many cities in Pakistan, India, USA, Canada, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait and UAE. KOEL Productions, a subsidiary of KOEL, is committed to the revival of the crafts in Pakistan by bringing public awareness and promoting the different crafts nationally and internationally through the electronic media. KOEL Publications, another subsidiary of KOEL, is a Publishing House that has been publishing books on the arts and crafts of Pakistan.