Hidden Gem · 4
- Avendi Curated Makers (Lokta Paper) Bhaktapur / Kathmandu Valley workshops
Lokta is handmade paper from the bark of the Himalayan Daphne shrub — naturally insect-resistant, used for centuries for official records and Buddhist texts. store page → · open in the atlas → - Avendi Curated Makers (Patan Silver) Patan (Lalitpur)
Patan has worked precious metal for generations; its silver filigree and stone-set pieces are what locals buy for festivals and dowries. store page → · open in the atlas → - Mahaguthi - Craft with a Conscience Patan (Lalitpur)
Mahaguthi grew out of the Tulsi Mehar Mahila Ashram's social-welfare weaving tradition and now describes itself as a pioneer of fair trade in Nepal, returning proceeds to its artisan network. Its Patan workshop turns handmade lokta bark paper into notebooks, cards, and gift bags alongside pashmina and other crafts. store page → · open in the atlas → - Pilgrims Book House Thamel / Online
Pilgrims lists more than 50,000 titles, with deep shelves in Himalayan studies, Buddhism and travel alongside general reading. Its online catalogue also exposes specialist and hard-to-find books before a visit. store page → · open in the atlas →
Worth a Detour · 1
- Kanchanjangha Tea Estate and Research Centre Phidim / Nepal
Deepak Prakash Baskota founded Kanchanjangha Tea Estate in 1984, after a visit to Darjeeling's tea gardens at age fifteen convinced him a community-owned plantation could work on the Nepali side of the same mountains. store page → · open in the atlas →
The Register · 13
- Felt and Yarn Pushpalal Path, Kathmandu
Felt and Yarn is a women-led workshop employing roughly 500 artisans across Nepal, felting pure New Zealand wool into balls, garlands, and home décor under ISO, GoodWeave, and Sedex certification. The Kathmandu-based operation says its supply chain supports more than 10,000 families. store page → · open in the atlas → - Healing Singing Bowls Thamel, Kathmandu
On Dabali Marg in Thamel, Healing Singing Bowls works with master artisan Santa Ratna Shakya to hand-hammer seven-metal bowls, gongs, and tingshas using techniques passed down through Newari metalworking families. The family-run workshop shapes each bowl by striking it hundreds of times rather than casting it in a mold. store page → · open in the atlas → - Himalayan Hemp Kathmandu (sourced from western highland districts)
Himalayan Hemp sources its fiber from remote western districts such as Darchula, Bajura, and Rolpa, where farmers have grown and hand-spun hemp at elevations up to 3,500 meters for centuries. Every textile is made by hand in Nepal, keeping the weaving within the highland communities that cultivate the plant. store page → · open in the atlas → - Himalayan Singing Bowl and Trading Pokhara / Nepal
Nabaraj Pokharel opened Himalayan Singing Bowl and Trading in Lakeside, Pokhara in 1990 after becoming interested in singing bowls through meditation. The shop works with Nepalese artisans on handmade bowls using traditional metalworking methods, also carries gongs, bells and statues, offers sound-healing sessions and ships online; its bowl-making process uses metal alloys, repeated heating, hammering, annealing, shaping and careful tuning. store page → · open in the atlas → - Khukuri House (Khukuri House Handicraft Industry) Ekantakuna, Lalitpur
Ex-Gurkha soldiers Til Bahadur Bishwakarma and Lalit Kumar Lama founded Khukuri House in February 1991 as Nepal's first organized khukuri maker, later supplying the British Gurkhas directly. Its Lalitpur workshop still forges each blade by hand, registered as a protected cottage industry since 2008. store page → · open in the atlas → - Lovely Incense Kathmandu / Nepal
Lovely Incense was founded by Dipendra Dangol roughly twenty-five years ago in Thamel, Kathmandu's tourist quarter, where he began selling a limited range of traditional Tibetan incense to visitors. store page → · open in the atlas → - Nepal Tea Collective Kathmandu (sourcing from Ilam)
Nepal Tea Collective, founded in 2016 from a family project begun in the 1960s, buys organic single-origin tea directly from Ilam smallholders and shares 1% of revenue back with farmers as a Public Benefit Corporation. store page → · open in the atlas → - Nepalese Khukuri House Kathmandu / Nepal
Registered in Nepal as Nepali Khukuri (Kukri) House Private Limited (Company Register No. 17479/058/59), Nepalese Khukuri House manufactures and sells military-pattern, working, ceremonial and historical-reproduction khukuris from Kathmandu. store page → · open in the atlas → - Pokhara Trekking Shop (Ganga Purna View) Pokhara / Nepal
Set on Street 6 in Shantipatan, Lakeside, next to Goodday Bakery, this Pokhara shop rents and sells trekking gear — sleeping bags, backpacks, poles, tents and cold-weather layers — priced by the day for travelers headed into the Annapurna region. Staff help outfit both first-time trekkers and seasoned hikers passing through Lakeside. store page → · open in the atlas → - Prasid Cashmere Tara Marg, Kathmandu
Prasid Cashmere has run its Tara Marg showroom since 1999, working exclusively with certified Chyangra Pashmina shorn from Himalayan mountain goats. Weavers hand-finish each shawl and wrap on the premises, a process visible from the shop floor. store page → · open in the atlas → - Rincheling Gallery and Art School (The Thangka) Boudhanath, Kathmandu
Rincheling Gallery sits directly across from the Boudha Stupa, where owner Tashi Lama's painters hand-render Buddhas, deities, and mandalas using traditional mineral pigments and Vajrayana iconography. Each composition follows the strict proportional grids passed down through generations of thangka masters. store page → · open in the atlas → - Termatree Kathmandu Valley
Termatree's statues are cast and consecrated in the Kathmandu Valley by artisans from the Vajracharya and Shakya castes, the Newari lineages historically responsible for the valley's sacred bronze and copper work. Each finished piece undergoes a consecration ritual before it leaves the workshop. store page → · open in the atlas → - Tsering Art School Boudhanath, Kathmandu
Tsering Art School has trained thangka painters in the Karma Gadri lineage since 1996, when Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche founded it in Boudhanath under the Dilgo Khyentse Fellowship. Students complete a six-year course before their finished scrolls are sold to support Shechen Monastery's cultural preservation work. store page → · open in the atlas →