Profile

Norlha

by Amy Larocca

The village of Ritoma is small and high on the Tibetan plateau. The people who live there tend towards nomadic lives, herding the plateau’s many indigenous yaks. Until recently, the nomads didn’t bother much with the thick wool their animals shed as they make their way across the land, transitioning from the land’s cold and dry winter to its much warmer spring. 

With its elemental life and its rugged and remote location, it’s hard to imagine a place less like Paris, or Milan, or London or Rome, but because of Kim and Dechen Yeshi, yak wool has now made it to all of these places and beyond in the form of incredibly beautiful and luxurious handmade knits that are not only making use of this natural resource, but also providing industry and opportunity to the people who live in Ritoma and nearby. 

Kim Yeshi, who is the mother of Dechen, is a trained anthropologist with extensive interest and knowledge in textiles, as well as in weaving. She was excited by the possibilities of this untapped resource which, she felt, could combine with the skills of the local population to make something beautiful. Dechen, whose father is Tibetan and who grew up mostly in Paris and India traveled to Ritoma after graduating from Connecticut College in 2004 and got involved with what her mother had started. 

The looms were found in India and Nepal—mostly English-made, they are replicas of colonial trade. Various trainers were brought to Tibet and Norlha was born, making the most beautiful and luxurious blankets in the world. (Until Norlha was established enough to sell under its own label, the workshop made blankets for no less than Hermes.) 

The incredibly and unusually soft Trails blanket takes three Norlha artisans three days to make using a combination of ancient technique and methods developed at the Norlha atelier. It’s this unique synthesis of the modern with tradition that makes it possible to achieve a blanket of this size and quality: large enough to work as a bed cover, a cozy sofa blanket and beautiful enough to do duty as a hanging on the wall.