yourtomorrow

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Wrap your presents in this lovely fair trade paper and help the Nepalese poor. A pack of five sheets of Fair Trade Wrapping Paper in a presentation pack. Each sheet is approximately 75 cm (30 ins) x 50 cmm (20 ins) in size, has a lovely golden star pattern and there is one sheet each in bright and colourful blue, crimson, purple, orange and green colours in a pack.

This pack contains handmade paper that is made using a centuries old process handed down from generation to generation according to traditional methods from the bark of the Danphe bush known as the "Lokta". It is found above 6,500 ft. altitudes of the Himalayan region of Nepal. This is a door to door industry where a large number of women and men are involved and this helps to improve the Nepalese standard of living of both rural and urban areas of low income families. The paper is of a fine texture, strong and can be preserved for some centuries.

The villagers trek to where the lokta grows, harvest, then transport it back to the village. It is boiled, cleaned, then beaten with wooden mallets to produce 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 taken to a village outside Kathmandu where it is made into paper by skilled craft makers, resulting in a product that is tree friendly and fair trade.

Lokta is the Nepali national paper and continues to be used for the preparation of legal documents, land registry forms and manuscripts, for which it’s excellent durability over many years is a fundamental requirement.