Glimpses of Traditional Weaving in Nepal

Karen Elting Brock wrote an article about galaicha weavers in the Nepalese village of Ghandruk for the Spring 2025 issue of Handwoven. If you haven’t read it yet, we encourage you to click the link and learn about this weaving tradition.

We didn’t have space in the print issue to include all of Karen’s fascinating pictures showing the weavers and their landscape, so we offer them here for you to enjoy.—Handwoven editors

I’m a Peace Corps Response volunteer in Nepal, where I teach English and help promote ecotourism in a small village on the Annapurna Trekking Circuit. There used to be a lot of weaving in the mountains where I live, but in my village, many weavers had to move to the big city during COVID to make a living doing something else, as there were no tourists to buy their work.

A very few local weavers remain, making bags on backstrap looms and knotted-pile rugs (galaicha) on large frame looms. These days, rather than weaving traditional ceremonial carpets unrolled only as seating for honored guests, the galaicha weavers make small mats for tourists to buy, with motifs that include the village‘s name, roses, mandalas, or local wildlife such as yaks or red pandas.

There are no local young people interested in learning this skill. When the last several galaicha weavers are no more, the tradition of this kind of weaving may disappear from Ghandruk.

Get a closer look! Click any image in the gallery to open it in full-screen mode.

Purnima’s sturdy frame loom sits in her weaving workshop. After tying a row of knots around the gauge rod, Purnima pounds it toward the fell line, beats the row in with a comb, and then cuts across the rod’s width to create pile. A typical warp is long enough for six to seven small pieces. The village name is a common motif for galaicha woven for the tourist trade. Newly washed wool dries in the courtyard between Purnima’s house and the small shed where she spins and weaves. On a sunny day, residents of Ghandruk take advantage by drying laundry as well as vegetables from gardens. The Annapurna Range is a majestic background for Ghandruk. Gayni Gurung weaves bags on a backstrap loom. Traditionally these bags were made from handspun nettle fiber, but now they’re made with cotton. Kamyan Tapa wove this long galaicha with a Tibetan medallion design 35 years ago as a seating pad for honored guests, or for receiving Hindu tika blessings. From the collection of Maya Pun Thapa This seating pad galaicha is about 25 years old. The design is less ornate, and the floral frame has become a simple plain border. From the collection of Tara Paudel Muleteers attach elaborate galaicha headpieces to their mules’ halters. Galaicha are also used as saddle blankets for mules. This one is made of synthetic yarn hand-knotted in the commercial center of Pokhara, about three hours away from Ghandruk. The Rock and Mud hotel commissioned these chair pads from their neighbor, galaicha weaver Ran Maya Gurung. Yak motifs are common, as are mandalas, roses, red pandas, and Annapurna. Galaicha seating pads are used in local guesthouses and restaurants, and are offered for sale to tourists.

Karen Elting Brock plies back roads, where she admires traditional craft and traditional life. She would like to thank the welcoming people of Ghandruk for their help with her article and photography, especially Ishwor Gurung, Beena Gurung, and Tara Paudel for their assistance in translation.