What´s more, if you buy your furniture at a place like Knot Craft, Kupondole, you´ll also be doing two commendable things: one, you´ll be doing your bit to help the green/sustainable movement, since the furniture at Knot Craft is made from natural fibers; and two, you´ll be doing your fellow countrymen a good turn, for the shop´s products are all made by the Nepali who live in the Tarai´s wetlands.
“We want to support Nepali traditional arts and skills, while at the same time preserving the region´s biodiversity” says said Siddhi Raj Regmi, marketing manager of Knot Craft. The furniture at his showroom were all made by artisans from the poor and deprived communities in the Tarai, and the material used in producing them--elephant grass, sisal, banana fiber, bamboo-are all abundant in the wetlands.
Furthermore, all the prices of all the furniture on display at Knot Craft are mid-range, which means that you can give your home a do-over without burning a hole in your pocket (the sofa here, for example, costs only Rs 11,000). And although the furniture can look delicate at first glance, the pieces are in fact pretty durable. They´ll last at least as long as your vinyl, glass and leather ones do.
These furniture pieces also boast two other winning qualities: they´re easy to repair (unlike, say, smashed glass tables or ripped leather couches), because most repair work entails either only reweaving or replacing fiber straps; and many of these pieces seamlessly meld functionality and aesthetics. The low-sitting dining table, for example, encases a space beneath its table top that doubles as a storage area.
Knot Craft also sells non-furniture items. Check out this bag made from corn husks. It´s not only chic, the fact that it´s made from husks--something that´s usually considered nothing more than dross matter-- makes it a bag that´s made with all the best of intents. The logic used in making this goes thus: we´re not just using material that will late end up as garbage; we´re actually using material that´s actually considered garbage to create beautiful stuff.
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