Nettle Fabrics from Nepal

Nettle Fabrics from Nepal

A fabric in its most original, pure and ecological form, hand-spun and hand-woven in the mountain villages of the Himalayas from pure, wild nettle fibre - a real rarity.

The nettle fibre comes from a plant that resists our attempts to eradicate it with infinite patience and tenacity. Textiles made from nettle fibres were widely used in the past. Entire monasteries were dedicated to their production. Today they have been almost completely forgotten, only their name is still wrongly used for simple, undyed cotton fabrics (nettle).

In Nepal, the fibre is so highly valued for its fiery wearing properties that even today people still go to the trouble of producing it. The native Girardinia diversifolia grows to a height of over 3 metres. It is harvested and peeled by hand, then the bast is placed in a simmering wood ash bath overnight, the brew is later used to fertilise the fields. The next morning, the extracted fibres are beaten on stones and painstakingly rubbed with clay to remove the remaining bark. The yarns are then spun by hand, knitted or woven into fabric on simple hand looms.

Like everything in nature, these fabrics do not have a uniform colour tone, the tones vary from straw-coloured to grey-brown or even dark brown and give the finished piece a beautiful, lively colour grain. The individual signature of the weaver and spinner makes each piece unique - fabric in its most original, pure and ecological form.

The material retains and protects body heat, is boil-proof and becomes more beautiful and softer with use.

As the fabrics are collected from the mountain tribes in Nepal, they are not always available in endless quantities.