Craft guide
ORBISCRAFT & ATELIERS IN KATHMANDU7 stores · curated ORBIS register
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.
Best for Authentic lokta paper journals, cards, gift wrap
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.
Best for Hand-hammered seven-metal singing bowls
Kathmandu
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.
Best for Handwoven Himalayan hemp textiles
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.
Best for Handmade Nepalese and Tibetan-style incense from a Thamel-founded house with its own factory
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. Within two years he saw enough demand to build a dedicated production factory covering both Nepalese and Tibetan incense styles, moving from a single storefront into manufacturing.
The company positions itself as Nepal's only sustainable incense brand, sourcing ingredients responsibly and combining long-standing Himalayan incense-making methods with more deliberate eco-friendly practices in how materials are gathered and processed. Alongside the fragrance business, Dangol has built the factory around local employment, particularly for women in the Kathmandu Valley, framing the incense trade as a livelihood project as much as a craft one.
From its start as a small tourist-facing stall in Thamel, Lovely Incense's move into its own production facility marks a trajectory shared by several Kathmandu Valley incense makers: a shop built to serve foreign visitors that grew, once demand proved durable, into a manufacturer supplying both the Nepalese and Tibetan incense traditions the Kathmandu Valley has long been known for.
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.
Best for Thangka scrolls near Boudha Stupa
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.
Best for Hand-cast consecrated Buddhist statues
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.
Best for Hand-painted Karma Gadri thangka scrolls
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