Nepalese Handmade Paper

Nepalese craftsmen have been producing handmade paper for a thousand years. The people of Nepal use natural paper in their daily life for writing valuable legal documents, for making sacred or popular masks, for kites etc. This paper is renowned for its exceptional durability and for its lively and special texture.

The bark from Daphne cannabis or Daphne Papyracea of thymalaeceae family "Lokta" in the local language is the raw material used. It is a shrub that grows in the forests, under the shade of the larger plants, in the foothills of the Himalayas. The height of this shrubs are 10 to 15 feet. The leaves are green in colour, 2 to 4 inches long and 0.5 to 1 inch wide. The flowers are white with a sweet smelling scent. The inner fibrous bark of this plant is the raw material used for the making of Nepali hand made paper. It is a self regenerating native best fiber and abundant in supply, thus preserving the fragile ecology of Nepal as well as giving continued work to the many mountain villages who make their living by making the raw paper.

Lokta grows at an altitude of around 6500ft and over and is strong, durable and has an inherent natural resistance to worms and insects. It is made using a centuries old process handed down from generation to generation. 

Varieties of products are made from "Lokta Paper"  like postcards, writing pads and papers, wood block prints, calendars, gift wrap, lampshades, pen holder, gift box, paper bag etc. These products are exported from Nepal to different  markets like USA, Japan, Canada and European countries.

The unique feature of Nepalese paper is its moth resistance quality.

How Lokta Paper is made?

The villagers trek to where the Lokta grows, harvests, then transports it back to the village. It is boiled ( see pic. at right) , cleaned, then beaten with wooden mallets to produce the fiber pulp. It is then mixed with water and poured into a shallow floating frame, made from bamboo poles stretched with canvas, then sun dried to produce the crisp long fiber paper. Once dry, it's taken to a village outside Kathmandu where it is made into our products by skilled craft makers, resulting in a product that is tree friendly and fair trade.

Lokta is the Nepali national paper and continues to be used for the preparation of legal documents, land registry forms and manuscripts, for which it's excellent durability over many years is a fundamental requirement.

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