In Nepal the production of handicraft is an age old occupation. Novel handicrafts are also developed in harmony with changing market taste. In the last 30 years, exports of handicraft have been growing. Thus the development of handicraft in one hand helps the conservation of national heritage of country and in other hand it also contributes to alleviate poverty by creating opportunities to Nepalese people. Nepal’s handicraft provides employment to hundreds of thousands of local people. It is also a major source of foreign revenue which is greatly needed for the import of basic necessities as well as development of infrastructures.
The hand-made paper is prepared in the traditional way from the bark of Daphne Cannabina commonly known as LOKTA an under-storey shrub which grows in the middle mountains of Nepal. Hand Made Lokta Paper of Nepalese made by an ancient art that has remained unchanged for over generations.
Lokta paper is acid free and extremely durable and is environmental friendly.
The government’s decision to resume the use of handmade Lokta paper in government documentation and citizenship certificate generated high hopes but there is no domestic market for it yet.
On March 9, 2009 when the government decided to reuse Lokta paper after an interval of 11 years it brought great hope to the people related to the Lokta paper industry. “Along with the decision there started mass production of Nepali handmade paper but compared to the production there was no demand in the market,” said Dr Milan Dev Bhattarai, director of Get Paper Industries.
Nepali handmade lokta paper is an environmentally friendly and sustainable resource that is harvested and produced naturally. The bark of lokta is harvested by hand without destroying the plant and the Lokta bush naturally regenerates, reaching full maturity again in six to seven years.
The making of Nepali handmade lokta paper is an ancient skill passed down through generations, and starts with villagers gathering the lokta inner bark in the forest. They carry the bark back to the village, where local paper makers wash it in a stream. The fibre is then put into large oil drums and the inner bark is boiled.
The centuries old history of the production of nepali paper dates back to the second century B. C., when papermaking was invented by T’sai Lun or one of his predecessors at the Chinese court. Nearly a millenium later, the knowledge of the production of paper out of the bark of Daphne papyracaea reached the High Himalayas via Tibet. There paper was produced from the ninth until the midst of our century.
Under the impact of changing political powers in Tibet, a new Forest Act in Nepal and the increasing import of industrially produced cheap paper from other countries, the traditional production of nepali paper seemed to come to a standstill in the beginning of the 1960′s.
