Nepal Peacock Shop Lokta Traditional Handmade Paper Notebook (Small) – Natural with Red and Blue Block Print

Peacock Shop is in the old Nepalese city of Bhaktapur, right beside the celebrated fifteenth-century wood carving known as the Peacock Window. The Prajapati family who own it have run it for generations, and their own handmade paper workshop is on the floor above the shop: boiling the bark, washing, beating the pulp, dyeing, laying it on the screen and drying it in the sun, every step following the traditional process, after which woodblocks and a hand-operated press turn the paper into notebooks, cards and paper crafts.

LOKTA paper is taken from the inner bark of daphne shrubs that grow wild in the Himalayas at altitudes of 1,600 to 4,000 metres. The fibres are long and tough, so the paper resists tearing and damp and stands up to insects and mould; in Nepal it has been used since ancient times for official documents and Buddhist scriptures. Five to seven years after the bark is harvested the shrub naturally grows back to its original height, making it a sustainable, renewable resource. Every sheet is made by hand, so the depth of colour and the grain of the fibres differ from one to the next — which is exactly what makes each one unique.

Size approx.: 8.7 x 6 cm