Welcome to the website of Banyan Tree Crafts, specialist fair trade wholesaler to UK Fair Trade and Retail businesses.

Banyan Tree Crafts is a family run fair trade business, supporting Nepalese artisans using traditional, sustainable techniques who craft a stunning range of handmade paper products.

Established in 2001, Banyan Tree Crafts has worked with local communities in India and Nepal to promote high quality hand crafted products to retail businesses in the UK.

The Banyan Tree

The National tree of India, the Banyan Tree is a dense canopied tree with aerial roots that can grow over hundreds of years to cover in excess of an acre of ground. Synonymous with trade, the tree's name is derived from the 'Banias', Indian traders who sat below the tree shade to sell their wares.

Growing on the lower slopes of the Himalayas, between 2000m and 4000m, Lokta is sustainably harvested under licence each year. The saplings are cut at around 30cm and the plant naturally regenerates, growing to maturity at about 5 years when it can be recropped.

The inner bark is stripped, washed then boiled for several hours and a pulp is created by mashing and mixing with water. This pulp is hand spread on framed natural muslin screens and dried in the sun.

Each handmade sheet is unique with a natural uncut edge which is characteristic of Lokta paper.

Natural styles have flower petals, leaves and seeds added as they dry.

After drying, a variety of natural dyes and colourings can then be applied, including Tibetan tea, walnut shells, rhubarb, saffron, indigo and pomegranate.

After further drying, traditional hand handscreen printing and batik printing techniques are used to decorate each sheet and produce the range of stunning designs available.

The completed paper is fine-textured, strong, naturally resistant to damp and insects and extremely durable making it popular as an ecologically and environmentally friendly natural craft paper and gift wrap.