PaperRoadFrontCover.webp
PaperRoadFrontCover.webp

Paper Road: Encounters with papermakers in India, Nepal and Bhutan

£18.99

Nigel Macfarlane worked alongside artisan papermakers in India, Nepal and Bhutan for more than forty years. Paper Road tells the story of that journey and of his engagement not just with the place but with an age-old craft. His account ranges from the contemporary to the distant past, from India’s tropical south to the remotest valleys of the Himalayas. Nigel looks at the influence of such towering figures as Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo on Indian papermaking, but his heart is with the many uncelebrated individuals he comes across on his paper journey.

The book combines a refreshing sense of purpose, humour and real experience, which culminates in his partnership with the brilliant and mercurial Vasudevan, with whom Nigel set up a paper factory in Karnataka. That factory now supplies handmade papers to artists on every continent.

‘Both a labour of love and an extraordinary story, Paper Road is well told, beautifully written and chock full of wit and charm, sharp observation and an ever-present sense of discovery.’ William Dalrymple

Nigel Macfarlane worked alongside artisan papermakers in India, Nepal and Bhutan for more than forty years. Paper Road tells the story of that journey and of his engagement not just with the place but with an age-old craft. His account ranges from the contemporary to the distant past, from India’s tropical south to the remotest valleys of the Himalayas. Nigel looks at the influence of such towering figures as Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo on Indian papermaking, but his heart is with the many uncelebrated individuals he comes across on his paper journey.

The book combines a refreshing sense of purpose, humour and real experience, which culminates in his partnership with the brilliant and mercurial Vasudevan, with whom Nigel set up a paper factory in Karnataka. That factory now supplies handmade papers to artists on every continent.

‘Both a labour of love and an extraordinary story, Paper Road is well told, beautifully written and chock full of wit and charm, sharp observation and an ever-present sense of discovery.’ William Dalrymple

Paper Road: Encounters with papermakers in India, Nepal and Bhutan
ISBN: 978-1-78060-252-3
Format: 208pp, hardback
Place: India, Nepal, Bhutan

Author Biography

Nigel Macfarlane was born in West Sussex in 1957 where he still lives.  He made his first trip to India in 1976 via Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. He returned to India in 1980 with his wife to be, artist, Barbara Macfarlane. Together they made contact with papermakers in Sanganer outside Jaipur, shipped some crates back to UK and sold papers to art students from the back of an old Peugeot 405.  Slowly the business grew, adding papers from South India, Nepal and Bhutan, they began to supply art material shops in the UK, in European countries and around the world. Their company is KHADI PAPERS (khadi.com) the name referring to the handspun cotton which Gandhi made a symbol of India’s independence movement.