Tashi Dorje

At 14,000 feet in the Changthang plateau, Tashi Dorje's family has been herding Changra goats and weaving their wool for centuries. The pashmina from these goats is among the finest in the world — each fiber is just 12-14 microns thick. Tashi weaves on a traditional handloom, creating shawls that take three to six months each. The patterns — geometric motifs inspired by Tibetan Buddhist art — are memorized, not drawn from patterns. "My grandmother wove through three winters without seeing sunlight," he says. "She said the wool kept her warm from the inside." His shawls are so fine they can pass through a ring.