Fair Trade Pledge

We do not display a fair-trade logo on this site. The certifying bodies do good work, but the certificates cost — paid by the workshop, often a year's earnings for a single maker — and most of the makers we buy from cannot afford them. Their absence on a label is not an absence of integrity. So instead of a logo we publish what we do, in plain language, where anyone can read it.

One · A fair price, paid directly to the maker

We pay each maker the price they ask for their work, and we ask twice if it sounds low — because in Patan and Boudhanath the habit of being underpaid is older than the makers themselves. We pay in Nepali rupees, in cash where the maker prefers it, on the day the piece is finished. No middleman, no merchant tax, no thirty-day terms.

For every piece in our catalogue we are happy to share, by email on request, the price we paid the maker — typically 55–70% of the catalogue price after our own costs of dispatch, conversion, and customs documentation. We do not publish this on the product page because it changes per piece and per season; we publish it on request because we have nothing to hide.

Two · No child labour, ever

Nobody under sixteen works on a piece we sell. This is non-negotiable and we verify it by visiting every workshop at least twice a year — unannounced visits, not scheduled tours. Apprenticeship in the Newari craft tradition does begin young, often between thirteen and fifteen with a parent or uncle who is already a master; in those cases the child observes, fetches, and learns the rhythm. They do not produce inventory for sale.

Three · Workshop conditions, in person

We have walked every workshop we buy from. We have asked about the air (singing-bowl forging produces metal dust), the light (silk embroidery is hard on the eyes), the hours (rug-weaving fatigues the back), and the breaks. Where conditions are below what we consider decent, we have either contributed to the fix — better ventilation in two workshops in Patan, brighter daylight tubes in one Boudhanath bench — or we have stopped buying. We have stopped buying twice in fifteen years. Both workshops have since improved and one is back in our catalogue.

Four · Long relationships, not transactions

The makers we feature have been making things for us for an average of nine years. We do not chase the cheapest hand or the newest workshop. We pay deposits months in advance so the maker can buy yarn or metal at favourable prices, and we accept that the calendar belongs to the maker — not the season, not the festival, not the tourist month.

Five · Funding the next generation

A measurable portion of every sale — currently 4% of the catalogue price, after refunds and returns — goes into the Urgyen Apprenticeship Fund, which underwrites two-year apprenticeships for young Newari, Tamang, and Sherpa craftspeople who would otherwise have to leave the trade for office work. The Fund pays the apprentice a small monthly stipend and the master a modest fee for the teaching time. We publish the annual report each March — number of apprentices, total disbursed, where they have gone. Email us and we will send the most recent one.

What we will not do

We will not bargain a maker below their asking price. We will not undervalue a customs invoice on your behalf. We will not push a maker to work faster than their craft allows. We will not feature a workshop we have not personally visited. And we will not put a sticker on a piece that says "fair trade" while the maker who made it cannot afford to print one.

Ask us anything

If any of the above is unclear, or you would like a specific number — what we paid for a piece you are considering, how long an apprentice has been with a particular master, the date of our last visit to a workshop — write to us. We answer within four hours, Kathmandu time, Sunday through Friday.