Founded in 2018 by Ishu Dhakras and Tulja Kedia, Né Nepal emerged when its founders returned home with a critical mission: to reinstate the value of Nepali handicraft through a design practice that creates meaningful livelihoods. The brand began as an impulse to address the vulnerability facing artisan communities and has developed into a women-led design house supporting over 150 artisans and touching more than 550 lives.
At its core, Né Nepal translates centuries-old metalwork into assertive jewellery and everyday ritual objects, with each piece forged in Nepal using traditional methods, from recycled brass to natural dyes and hand-painted textures. The brand reports that over 40% of its artisan partners have more than doubled their income in two years, while six craft techniques have been revived under its stewardship.
Their work is deeply tied to architectural, cultural, and everyday references from Nepal. The Akhijhyal earrings, are patterned after the ornate lattice windows that line courtyards in the Kathmandu Valley. The Nepali coin studs revive embossed motifs of historic currency, embedding it into a decorative register. Né Nepal’s 'Phool Ko Mala' necklace adapts the garlands used in rituals and public life into a permanent chain of flowers. Similarly, mandala-inspired earrings make the geometry of balance and symmetry wearable, while retaining the intricate detailing of hand-engraved patterns.
Beyond jewellery, Né Nepal extends its ethos into homeware, wellness, and décor. Whether it's pottery, copperware, wood and brass utensils, candles, diffusers, each is crafted to root utility firmly within local skill and material systems. This expansive yet disciplined approach reflects a brand that refuses superficial exoticism and instead prioritises substance and lineage.
The brand’s flagship store in Jhamsikhel, Kathmandu, is emblematic of its identity. Opened during the pandemic, it a space shaped by artisans, for visitors, to feel the reality of craft and community in material form. Né Nepal's practice is less about reclaiming nostalgia and more about authoring a present where skilled Nepali hands create precise objects that respect both the maker and the wearer via scalable ethics grounded in clarity and impact.
Né Nepal’s work is about rewriting how Nepal is seen today. The brand reframes familiar symbols for a new context, one that is global in reach but unmistakably Nepali in authorship. What emerges is not an export of nostalgia but a visual re-imaginining of Nepal, crafted through design, material, and the hands that continue to shape them.
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