All our colourful giftwrap is handmade by Get Paper Industries (GPI), an incredible, socially aware cooperative in Nepal.
GPI has won many awards for the charity work it does in the local area, from supporting people affected by HIV and Aids to establishing schools to support the education of underprivileged children. Milan, a founder member, is a man with an amazing passion for life, and he and his team are making a big difference, as we have seen with our own eyes.
The beautiful paper they use is handmade from Lokta, a shrub that grows in the foot hills of the Himalayas at altitudes in excess of 6500ft and is abundant in supply. Harvesting this sustainable plant helps preserve the fragile ecosystem in Nepal and gives regular fairly paid work to the people of the many mountain villages.
The paper is handmade from the bark of the Lokta or Daphne papyracea plant, a shrub not unlike a large raffia plant, that grows in the foothills of the Himalayas.
Mountain villagers trek to where the lokta grows, harvest it, then transport it back to the village. It is boiled, cleaned, then beaten with wooden mallets to product 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 ready to be dyed and printed by skilled craft makers.
