Handmade Lokta Paper

Nepali Handmade Paper Making is 2000 years old technique and one of the ancient traditional crafts from Nepal. It is used in the daily lives for writing valuable legal documents, for making sacred or popular masks, for kites, etc. The monks of Tibet have always used it for their manuscripts and for printing sacred tests. This paper is renowned for its exceptional durability and for its lively and special texture. The bark from Daphne cannabina or Daphne papyracea, known as lokta in the local language, found at the altitude of between 6500 ft. to 9500 ft. Daphne is harvested every two to three years.

Product range of Handmade Lokta Paper

It is gathered at thigh altitudes without destroying the fragile ecology of Nepalese forest. Then, it is carried to villages two or three days, walk down the mountains. The paper-makers clean and boil the bark. Beating the boiled bark with wooden mallets produces a pulp, and this is poured on to wooden frames to dry in the sun. The sun-dried sheets are transported to paper factories where they are dyed, stenciled, printed, and transformed into attractive products.

Paper dyeing process

Today, products such as greeting cards, stationery sets, notebooks, gift wrapping paper, bags, envelopes, photo frames, and so on are made using traditional Nepalese designs. Mahaguthi Craft with Conscience has been dedicated for more than decade to support low income and economically deprived producers of Nepal who produced beautiful products like this proceeds from the sale of this product will go to support the rehabilitation of the disadvantages women and children as well as producers of Nepal.  As our core principle we are providing  long term employment to women, hence more than 80% of our paper artisans are women.

We are working on two kinds of paper-one pure lokta paper and second recycled lokta paper.