NEPALESE LOKTA PAPER

This handmade paper is made from the bark of the Lokta, or Daphne Papyracea, which is a shrub that grows in the foothills of the Himalayas under the shade of larger plants. It is a self regenerating native bast fibre plant which is 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.

How is it made?

The villagers trek to where the lokta grows, harvests it and then transports it back to the village. It is boiled, cleaned, then beaten with wooden mallets to produce the fibre 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 fibre 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.