Demonstrating a well-developed sense of corporate social responsibility, Tibetan Handicraft and Paper Pvt. Ltd. has taken up the following initiatives:

• It educates the children of its Kathmandu factory workers for free at Samten Memorial Educational Academy and provides migrant children from four Dolkha villages—Bigu, Alamphu, Chilangkha and Khopa Chaggu—a 50% discount.  Forty-one children study in kindergarten to third grade and a new grade will be added every year.

• It donated Rs. 475,000 for the construction of a road to Barahibise Thingsang, Bigu and Chilangkha Dolakha District.  Over 30 thousand people from several villages, including Bigu, Alamphu, Chilangkha, and Khopa Chaggu benefit from the increased access to markets and other infrastructures which the road provides. It would support marketing of stone slates from Alamphu, and organic potato and vegetable from Bigu. 

• It has paid the salary of a grade VIII teacher to teach 46 students, many from disadvantaged ethnic groups, at Gauri Shankar Lower Secondary School in Bigu for the educational year 2007/2008 in order to reduce the high dropout rate associated with having to change schools after grade VII. 
• A Rainbow of Top-Quality Products

The ceiling-height shelves at the Kathmandu factory, where paper is classed by colour and design, provide a veritable feast for the eyes.   

Vegetable dyes provide a spectrum of natural tints:  Safflower makes a tawny yellow, pomegranate skins create a lovely gold, and green walnut husks make a rich brown. In artificial colour, from crimson red to royal blue, vermilion green to lavender, Tibetan Handicraft & Paper Pvt. Ltd. offers a rich spectrum. And every colour can be patterned with wrinkles, silk-screened waves and flowers or innovations like solar prints of leaves, embedded dried flowers, and the Nepali script.  While the standard sheet is 20 inch by 30 inch, A3, A4 and A5 sheets are also available, as are gargantuan ones three meters long.    

Products include boxes, bags and beads, twine and tiny book-motif earrings.  For writers, there’s a vast array of journals; for gift-givers, wrapping paper; and for photographers, photo frames and albums.  Tibetan Handicrafts & Paper Pvt. Ltd. even offers things no other paper company in Nepal does: bamboo fans and paper necklaces.

And that’s not all. Tibetan Handicrafts & Paper Pvt. Ltd. specialises in custom orders.  Whatever you wish—whether it’s a silkscreen print of a particular flower you like—it will deliver.

While handmade paper is, by definition, going to have some flaws (that’s part of its beauty), the Tibetan Handicrafts & Paper Pvt. Ltd. takes great care to market only the best.  Each department at the Kathmandu factory—sorting, production, packaging—has its own quality control expert who works alongside workers ensuring—before error sets in—that only top-quality work is done.  

Background

Tibetan Handicrafts & Paper Pvt. Ltd. supports community-based development: it has purchased shares in local enterprises, which has members from community forest users’ groups, Dolkha Sindhu Multipurpose Pvt. Ltd. and Everest Gateway Pvt. Ltd. and signs annual purchase agreements with each. Currently about one thousand members benefit directly as do the about 20 workers at their respective processing facilities and the 85 workers at the Kathmandu works.  Wages are competitive and working conditions excellent for all employees, who are drawn from a cross-section of Nepal’s many ethnic groups, giving special consideration to the poorest. Another 3500 households benefit indirectly.

The company highlights the unique Sherpa/Tibetan culture by selling products like prayer flags, incense, singing bowls and thingsa (miniature cymbals) and by printing paper with typical icons like the bodhi leaf (Prince Siddhartha was enlightened under a peepul tree), the lotus, mandala, and the all-seeing eyes of Lord Buddha.  It also promotes papermaking in general by conducting training programmes, not just in Nepal itself, but as far abroad as orphanages in Tibet and even in America.

Because it uses vegetable dyes and dip-dye processes that absorb all chemical dyes, which are ozone- and chlorine-free in any case, the papermaking process is environmentally sound.  In addition, waste is minimal since all rejected products are recycled.  In fact, the company is doing research into the use of agricultural waste, including banana leaves, cardamom stalks and rice husks, for paper production.  It is also exploring the possibility of using other plants, like hemp and mitsumata (Japanese for Edgeworthia chrysantha), in paper production

Salient Features of our Handmade Paper:

The paper is fine textured, strong and durable. The tough but attractive edge of the paper sheet is a main feature of this handmade paper. In ancient times the paper was used for writing Mantras, Sutras, and Buddhist epics; it is still used for the contents of prayer wheels, but in the present day it is also used for artistic purposes and for making exquisite gift items. Due to its unique features, handmade paper is praised and appreciated by users of our products.

Samten Memorial Education Academy is run by Tibetan Handicraft & Paper Pvt. Ltd. It provides quality education to its employees children and children from remote area.

Broad-based Benefit

Tibetan Handicrafts & Paper Pvt. Ltd. supports community-based development: it has purchased shares in local enterprises, which has members from community forest users’ groups, Dolkha Sindhu Multipurpose Pvt. Ltd. and Everest Gateway Pvt. Ltd. and signs annual purchase agreements with each. Currently about one thousand members benefit directly as do the about 20 workers at their respective processing facilities and the 85 workers at the Kathmandu works. Wages are competitive and working conditions excellent for all employees, who are drawn from a cross-section of Nepal’s many ethnic groups, giving special consideration to the poorest. Another 3500 households benefit indirectly.

The company highlights the unique Sherpa/Tibetan culture by selling products like prayer flags, incense, singing bowls and thingsa (miniature cymbals) and by printing paper with typical icons like the bodhi leaf (Prince Siddhartha was enlightened under a peepul tree), the lotus, mandala, and the all-seeing eyes of Lord Buddha. It also promotes papermaking in general by conducting training programmes, not just in Nepal itself, but as far abroad as orphanages in Tibet and even in America.

Because it uses vegetable dyes and dip-dye processes that absorb all chemical dyes, which are ozone- and chlorine-free in any case, the papermaking process is environmentally sound. In addition, waste is minimal since all rejected products are recycled. In fact, the company is doing research into the use of agricultural waste, including banana leaves, cardamom stalks and rice husks, for paper production. It is also exploring the possibility of using other plants, like hemp and mitsumata (Japanese for Edgeworthia chrysantha), in paper production