A workshop making hand-painted papier-mache baubles, stars and bells for Christmas shops abroad and festive buyers in India, built on Srinagar's GI-tagged papier-mache craft and its existing export trade.
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This workshop makes hand-painted papier-mache Christmas baubles, bells, stars and Easter eggs for shops abroad, and Diwali and Eid decorations for buyers in India. Work follows the craft's two classic stages: sakhtsazi, shaping the piece from paper pulp, and naqashi, painting it by hand in fine detail.
Kashmiri papier-mache carries a GI tag, and Srinagar's old city is its home. Workshops here already make Christmas and Easter pieces for shops in the United States and Europe, with orders arriving as early as March. Srinagar's crafts helped it become a UNESCO Creative City for crafts and folk art in 2021.
You need a dry, well-lit workshop with drying racks, a team of pulp makers and painters, paints and lacquer, and an Importer Exporter Code (the registration needed to ship goods abroad). The hard parts: most income comes in one season and from a few buyers; American orders fell sharply after US import duties rose in 2025, and trade rules can change again; buyers abroad often ask for lead-free paints and even quality across thousands of pieces; and payment can take months.
Reach buyers through handicraft trade fairs, online export marketplaces and samples sent by air from Srinagar. Keep a steady line of Indian orders from gift shops, hotels and wedding planners so you are not tied to one market.
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