Garland, Solar System, Nepal

This festive fair trade garland is made with sustainably harvested Himalayan lokta paper. Strung on simple cotton cord, it features the sun, all eight planets in order with the moon orbiting around earth, and a star at the end. Alternating brightly colored shapes are handmade with playful silkscreen artwork by artisans in Nepal.

Perfect for bedrooms, dorms, offices, and more and as a gift for the space lover and dreamer!

Our eco-paper garlands are made with sustainably harvested Lokta paper made from the bark of the Daphne shrub that grows at elevations of 5,000 to 16,000 above sea level in remote areas of the Himalaya in Nepal. The raw fiber is hand-gathered by local villagers from sanctioned forests. The bark is soaked and boiled to soften, then ground into a watery pulp. This solution is mixed with water and sieved onto screens to create individual sheets of paper that dry in the sun. Natural and azo-free synthetic dyes are used to color the paper which can then be printed using typical silk-screen methods. Through this long and laborious process lokta-based craft products offer rural Nepalese people, often women, a much-valued source of income to provide for the needs of their families and communities.