About the craft
Orenburg Shawl Knitter, Star of the Show "Starshe vsekh" and Partner of Shalnoy Orenburg – Raziya Biktagirova
Not long ago the Orenburg down shawl made headlines across Russia once again. And not just anywhere, but on central television, on Channel One. The pride of our region was made famous by a talented knitter with vast experience – Raziya Kivamovna Biktagirova, who amazed the audience with her appearance on the show "Starshe vsekh" with Maxim Galkin, giving an on-air master class in knitting down shawls and making an indelible impression on the viewers and the host.
We had the chance to meet Raziya Kivamovna at her home. The hospitable hostess agreed to talk to us and tell us about her path as a craftswoman of the down-knitting craft.
Raziya Kivamovna was born in the Belyaevka District in 1937. From her earliest years she showed an interest in knitting, watching her mother and her mother's sister create large, warm shawls with the most beautiful patterns from down thread. Regularly visiting her aunt, Raziya Kivamovna persuaded her to teach her to knit. The talented girl succeeded faster than anyone could have expected: at 6 she had perfectly mastered the "cat's paws" pattern, and she went to first grade in a down shawl she had knitted herself.
From then on, her path as a professional knitter began.
- There was no television or Internet back then, - says Raziya Kivamovna, - so we entertained ourselves with knitting.
The entertainment was at the same time a hobby, and almost instantly turned into a serious professional occupation. Raziya Kivamovna knitted a lot, mastering ever new techniques and patterns, and by the time she came of age she was already a one hundred per cent professional and versatile master of the down-knitting craft.
In 1958, at the age of 21, she moved to the village of Zheltoye in the Saraktash District, where she continued her professional career, and just a year later, in 1959, she got a job at the down artel, where she succeeded by applying the skills she had acquired earlier.
- They gave us a plan and very little raw material, - she recalls, - 98 grams of goat down and 17 grams of cotton. And you had to knit a shawl from that.
And Raziya Kivamovna managed. From the amount of raw material issued, she knitted a 400-stitch shawl measuring 150x150 cm.
She worked at the down artel until 1992, practically until the enterprise collapsed. But even after production collapsed, she did not stop knitting. Shawls she made were sold in Surgut and in Saint Petersburg. By the way, even then she came across a considerable number of fakes passed off as Orenburg down shawls.
- I was indignant, I scolded them, - she recalls, laughing. - I told them: "Take this away, we are from Orenburg and we know what our shawls should be like, and you are deceiving people! Take it away, don't disgrace us!
It is worth saying that Raziya Kivamovna was known in Russia and abroad even before her appearance on Channel One. For example, in 1996 she was visited by a delegation from the United States: the women tried on Orenburg shawls.
Raziya Kivamovna's total experience is more than 80 years. Now she knits much less (on average 2–3 shawls a year!). And since Raziya Kivamovna recognises only top-grade Orenburg down and only nezapryad thread, and works exclusively for quality, her items can with full responsibility be called exclusive. And yes, today Shalnoy Orenburg owns a unique openwork gossamer shawlknitted by this famous and talented craftswoman! This exclusive item is already waiting for its owner.
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