What Khukuri House (Khukuri House Handicraft Industry) is known for
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.
Two retired soldiers of the 10th Gurkha Rifles, Lalit Kumar Lama (22 years of British Army service) and Til Bahadur Bishwakarma (19 years, including a decade as an armour specialist with the Gurkha Reserve Unit in Brunei), first conceived the business in 1989 and formally established it as Khukuri House in February 1991 at Ekantakuna, Lalitpur, in the Kathmandu Valley.
Bishwakarma's motivation traced back to his own service: he had grown frustrated with the poor quality of khukuris supplied to Gurkha recruits by local contractors, and the two founders set out to preserve traditional blacksmithing knowledge while raising the standard of the blade itself. The company describes itself as Nepal's first organized khukuri manufacturer, and it went on to become an official supplier to the British Gurkhas, with documented supply on multiple occasions including 2012-2014.
The craft's standing was formalised in 2008, when Khukuri House Handicraft Industry was registered as a small cottage industry of the Nepalese government (registration number 6026/299/064/065, dated 24 February 2008) and joined the Federation of Handicraft Association of Nepal that same year. The workshop still forges each blade by hand, and the company now runs regional depots serving customers in the USA, UK, Australia and Canada.
Best for — Hand-forged Gurkha khukuri knives
Lalitpur, Kathmandu Valley, Nepal
Where next
- Chattanooga Leather Works — United States
- Handmade Knives Reno — United States
- Quercur Leathercraft — Spain
Hand-curated for ORBIS · no paid placement