My name is Arpan Shrestha and I have been living in Cleveland, Ohio for almost 10 years after I moved from Nepal. I owned a handicraft business back home. I had been introduced to handicraft products since I was a kid. My uncle owned a couple of stores that sold handmade souvenirs to tourists. I used to help him manage his store during winter vacations. The craftsmanship and the intricacy of the handcrafted products always fascinate me. That’s what inspired me to open my own handmade souvenir store shortly after I graduated high school. I ran a handicraft business for 11 years.
After I moved to the US, I went to a college and landed on an internship and a
contracting job for few years. However, I was never content with 9 to 5 job as I
always yearned to follow my passion, to open my own handicraft store.
I started an online business in Amazon in 2017 where I sold toys, party supplies
and products in other categories but I still had this feeling inside that I could do
much more.
While visiting Kathmandu, Nepal in summer of 2019, I came across handmade glass bead products that are passionately crafted by skilled women artisans within and outside of the Kathmandu valley. I found that these products were beautifully made and were crocheted in different colors and patterns. The variations in colors, design and craft skills that have been put into these items really intrigued me. This is when I decided to work with the organization in Kathmandu who trains and employs underprivileged women.To commemorate these skilled artisans and to promote their products NepaliArtisans.com was born.
In future, my goal is to support women of Nepal by sourcing varieties of handmade products they have created. These products are sold by profit and non-profit organizations that specifically helps underprivileged women to become skilled artisans through their training programs and are later employed. This gives these women an opportunity to have a consistent income which otherwise would not have been possible.
I intend to give back to the community by donating a portion of our profit to these women artisans.