A Craft Carried Out of Exile: How Nepal Became a Carpet Capital

Following the Tibetan uprising, thousands of refugees migrated to Nepal, bringing the ancestral craft of carpet weaving with them — first practiced in refugee camps to earn a living. The Swiss Association for Technical Assistance (SATA) later helped commercialize the craft, investing in the Chailsa Handicraft Centre in Solukhumbu, then Jawalakhel in Kathmandu and Tashiling in Pokhara.

What began as a survival tactic became a global export boom through the 1970s–90s, turning handmade carpets into one of Nepal's core economic pillars.