Nepal has an extraordinary living tradition of traditional arts and crafts. Metalwork, Thangka painting, wood carving, pottery, weaving and paper-making continue to be practised commercially and ceremonially by artisans who have inherited their skills through family lineages that stretch back centuries.
Patan is Nepal's metalwork capital. The master craftsmen of Patan's traditional quarters produce Buddhist statues, ritual objects, temple bells and decorative metalwork using the lost-wax casting technique used in Nepal for over 1,500 years. Visitors can watch the entire process from wax modelling through metal casting and hand finishing in artisan workshops that welcome respectful observation. Bhaktapur's pottery is produced at Pottery Square in the old city by potters using foot-powered wheels to create traditional water pots and ceremonial vessels. Thangka painting – the sacred Buddhist scroll painting tradition – can be learned in short or extended workshops at established Kathmandu schools. Nepali paper (lokta) making from bark fibre and traditional Dhaka weaving can be observed and participated in at community workshops. We arrange half-day and full-day craft workshop experiences as part of our Kathmandu Valley cultural tours.
It is not just the learning process of a traditional craft that attracts people to pottery, ceramics, wool spinning or other artisan skills. It is the people who share the knowledge and the place where they are rooted. Because traditional skills emanate from roots, a connection to land, a passion for sustainability and a handed down knowledge of cultural and natural heritage. All those things are what make the perfect traditional skills and crafts holidays.
Throughout the Kathmandu Valley centuries-old traditional artisan skills continue today. Take a course in woodcarving, stone masonry, pottery or learn delicate Thangka painting from artisans who have been practising this skills for generations.
Nepal is made of Gods and Goddesses, temples and palaces, arts and crafts, music and war history. However, there is one skill, which is common in every quarter, and that is 'hands of skilled workers'.
Nepal is the birthplace of Araniko, a famous artist, of the late 12th century, from the Kathmandu Valley who would travel miles to China, Beijing and build famous White Stupa at the Miaoying Temple. He is a key figure in Chinese culture because it's him who had introduced pagoda style architecture in China, for the first time and the rest is, merely, history.
Nepal's temples and statues of gods, and other figures are, simply, standards of the perfection of handicrafts. From the very typical households to melting iron for making the world-famous knife, Khukuri, Nepalese artists are masters of their own. Nepalese cultural craft is, especially, noble for considering the varieties of recognizable artisan inhabitants. For example, Nepal is famous for Carpets, Thanka (Painting of Gods) Newari Wood Carving, Himalayan Nepalese Paper, Tibetan Handicraft, Buddhist and Hindu statues, Mithila Wall Art, Bamboo knitted umbrella, and for its indigenously crafted household items.
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