Nepal Knotcraft Centre

31/10/2024

Happy Tihar !

08/07/2024

Coiled Baskets
Woven lamps
The artistry of baskets coiled from thatch grass and lamps woven with cattail fiber. Each piece not only celebrates natural materials but also nurtures community skills and local culture. Join us in supporting a sustainable value chain that connects tradition with modern beauty. 🌟


📸:

05/07/2024

Celebrating our founder’s inspiring journey! From starting with knotting in the 80s to exploring native plant fibers and weaving techniques across the country, we have transformed community skills into a thriving craft. By harnessing these natural resources and community skills, we empower artisans to monetize their craftsmanship. Celebrating tradition, sustainability, and the artistry of our talented craftsmanship.


📸:

01/07/2024

Coiled Baskets
Table mats
Coiled coasters

Crafted with skillful hands, using thatch grass inspired by nature, basketry is more than just art for the Tharu community—it’s essential and functional today.

07/06/2024

🌟 We are thrilled to announce that Nepal Knotcraft Centre has been honored with the Business Resilience Award 2024 in the MCSEs category! 🌟

A big thank you to USAID and National Business Initiative for recognizing our efforts. We are incredibly grateful for the support of our well-wishers who believe in our work.

Together, we are committed to being a promising practitioner in business resilience, disaster risk reduction, and management initiatives. Let’s keep striving for a safer and more resilient future!

27/05/2024

Mountain Waste to Crafts by Nepali Women

For Mountaineers, the climbing rope is a symbol of safety, their lifeline. During expeditions, the lives of mountaineers literally hangs by a thread i.e. a Climbing rope.
Unfortunately, these very ropes are also one of the most common items left behind in the mountains after expeditions. On top of that, they are one of the most difficult items to recycle.
Under the Nepal Army Led- Mountain Clean Up Campaign 2021 & 22- one of the largest Mountain Clean up Campaigns in the world, these ropes were collected from eight mountains of Nepal, viz., Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, Dhaulagiri, Amadablam, Pumori, Mananslu, & Kanchanjunga.
The vision of the campaign’s official recycling partner, Avni Ventures to not let any of the waste collected from the mountains to go to the landfills, gave birth to the idea of upcycling them into beautiful, functional products. These ropes have undergone series of processing by women at Avni Ventures. In Partnership with Nepal Knotcraft Centre, the craft-persons and weavers from the indigenous communities of Nepal have coiled the climbing ropes with natural plant fibers to transform them into this beautiful product.






Shilshila Acharya

13/04/2024

Cheers to a remarkable 2080, where we embraced the essence of community, intertwining nature with women’s livelihoods. As we explore deeper into traditional skills shaping them into contemporary forms, fostering both income and admiration. Our journey safeguarded age-old wisdom, enriching lives while preserving heritage. And together with the talented wonderful Viola, we crafted ‘a tapestry’ using ‘invasive’ water hyacinth, symbolizing our commitment to ecological harmony. Here’s to 2081, a year where our aspirations flourish, weaving dreams into reality.
नयाॅ वर्षको शुभकामना । happy 2081 !
📸: .breeze and

#2081

02/04/2024

The installation promises to be an enriching experience, showcasing the cultural exchange and creative collaboration between international artist and local artisans.
Looking forward to seeing you all !

Join The Fulbright Program Visiting Artist and Student Researcher Rachael Viola Bordon at Taragaon next on April 5th at 4 PM for the opening ceremony of “𝗕𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱”, a weaving installation conducted in collaboration with weavers from the Nepal Knotcraft Centre.

This installation is a presentation of Viola's Fulbright research with Kathmandu University School of Arts on the invasive water hyacinths that have brought about ecological shifts in landscapes near Koshi Tappu.

It will be open to the public throughout April!

𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲: Opening Ceremony on April 5, 2024, at 4 PM, Installation on view throughout April
𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Taragaon Next, Boudhanath Sadak https://maps.app.goo.gl/2Na2yPeTs9ztqWzx9

Nepal Association of Humphrey Fellows Fulbright Alumni Association of Nepal U.S. Embassy, Nepal

31/03/2024

Today, we celebrate the beauty of partnership and tradition as we embark on our journey to customize crafts for the Daura Thakali. Through the art of weaving with plant fibers, we intertwine generations and nature, creating contemporary masterpieces rooted in heritage. This collaboration not only empowers women but also enriches our ecosystem, weaving a sustainable future. Join us as we merge traditional skills with contemporary vision, crafting beauty with purpose.
Thank you Daura Thakali for trusting us.

Daura Thakali

08/03/2024

Ten Thousand Villages of Alexandria

Today, we're highlighting the achievements of Edna Ruth Byler: Ten Thousand Villages Entrepreneur and Shyam Badan Shrestha!

Ten Thousand Villages began in 1946, when Edna Ruth Byler traveled with her husband to La Plata Valley in Puerto Rico. There, she met women who embroidered exquisite textiles but had no market to sell them to support their families. Having experienced economic hardship during the Depression, Byler identified with the women's desire to be able to earn a sustainable income. She paid the women for the embroidered goods, brought them home to Pennsylvania, and began to sell them to people she knew. She then reinvested the earnings to buy more from the women.

Byler eventually gained the support of Mennonite Central Committee, which facilitated international trips to expand the endeavor. What began with one woman selling handicrafts out of the trunk of her car has since blossomed into the national organization that we know today.

~

Shyam Badan Shrestha learned weaving from her mother at a young age. After losing her job, she decided to start her own business. She founded Nepal Knotcraft Centre in July 1984 with the goal of providing women with economic empowerment through employment. The center began with just three women who manufactured simple macramé goods. Today, NKC employs hundreds of women from various Nepali ethnic groups, and targets women coming from socially and economically deprived communities.

NKC is committed to preserving traditional techniques and indigenous industries, such as knotting, weaving, and coiling. The center organizes training sessions across Nepal and awards educational scholarships to girls from vulnerable families.

18/09/2023

On Nepal's 11th National Science Day, we're delighted to get an entrepreneurship award from NAST. Our research and designs help protect traditional skills, knowledge, and technology. We also value science and business skills as the building blocks for a strong economy.
Happy Teej 2080

18/03/2023

"This exhibition brings two worlds together: the modern and the traditional, the cutting edge of design married with generational knowledge passed down, mostly to women". Please do visit the 'Nepal Crafts and Arts Exhibition' organised by Nepal Knotcraft Centre in collaboration with Mike Krajniak at Siddharth Art Gallery

15/03/2023

Siddhartha Art Gallery and Nepal Knotcraft Centre invite you to the opening of 'Nepal Crafts and Art Exhibition' on 17th of March, 5:30 pm!

The exhibition will be inaugurated by Narad Mani Hartamchhali' "Kalaang", Chancellor of Nepal Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA).

Hope to see you all at the exhibition.

The exhibition will continue till April 7.

17/02/2023

Exploring the communities’ skills and learning from each other is essence to balancing the eco-system and connecting the dots. Craftsmanship is the soul of the products that they make, and we are trying to find common language in these skills and connecting through weavings.

01/12/2022

“Nepal Knotcraft Centre partners with women to improve their livelihoods while paying tribute to their cultural significance and value to their crafts and craftsmanship. All our products have a story – for it speaks of the lives of the people behind it and places from where our natural fibers come”.