| | | Electra Artisans apply a heat finish to locally pressed metal and then seal it with native beeswax, to produce a unique patina. The metal is then handcut into specified strands. Any discarded fragments are sold to local sculptors to be melted down and formed into Buddhist statues. | | Lattice Females age 18 to 24, who walked six days from their remote village in Solukumbu to join our 3form team, carefully hand-knot Raffia Palm leaves, fibers from Madagascar, to make the thread. Knitting the lacelike configuration pays for their college education. | | Banana Fibers Weavers create yarn through a process of gathering wild plants, drying and softening the stalks and spinning the material by hand. The artisans then combine the delicate yarn with carefully selected corn husks or hand-processed allo to meticulously create the unique 3form textile. | | Sada Artisans prepare traditional Buddhist "prayer paper" from the Lokta bark which grows wild in the Himalayas. They combine the hand-made paper with high-grade copper strips through age-old weaving techniques. | | |
| | | In a country with a tumultuous economy and the highest illiteracy rate In Asia, 3form is committed to human development. 3form works with our dedicated Nepalese partner, Lhakpa Sherpa, offering valuable opportunities to underserved artisans. Through his wife's connection with the Kathmandu Association of the Deaf, Lhakpa employs members of the deaf community. He also provides work for Skilled weavers, who's jobs almost became obsolete through the technological advancement of the power loom. From remote villages in the Everest Base Camp Region to Nepal's busy capital Kathmandu, 3form's products have successfully created hundreds of new jobs in one of the poorest countries in South East Asia. As one of the first graduates of the Himalayan school funded by Sir Edmund Hillary, our partner values education. The organization provides educational opportunities for young female employees facing illiteracy and exploitation. The workers are among very few in Nepal who are offered medical benefits. | | |