Newari Kala — Traditional Carved Sofas made in Nepal

Anybody who has walked slowly through Patan Durbar Square or the lanes of Bhaktapur has already seen the vocabulary this sofa is built from: the lattice, the rosette, the vine that runs along a window frame, the depth of a cut made by a chisel rather than a router. That craft is still alive in the valley. What it has mostly lost is a place in a modern living room.

RP Newari Kala is our attempt to give it one. The frame is hand-carved seasoned sal, pegged with traditional mortise-and-tenon joinery and no visible screws anywhere on the show-wood. The carving is done by one carver, with chisels, at a bench in our workshop — which is why the lead time is forty to fifty-five days depending on the pattern, and why we will show you the pattern book and then leave him alone.

What we have deliberately changed is the comfort. Traditional carved seating in Nepal was beautiful and genuinely punishing to sit on for an evening. Ours carries 36-density loose cushions on a firm base pad, so it works as a sofa you actually live with rather than an heirloom you avoid.

You can choose the pattern from our book, or bring a photograph of a window, a door or a temple strut that means something to you, and we will quote for matching it. Several of our carved commissions have come from families rebuilding after 2015 who wanted one piece in the new house that carried the old one's language.

Every Newari Kala carries the carver's name on its Karigar Ledger label, not only the upholsterer's. It is the only sofa in the catalogue with two names on it, and that is deliberate. This piece is not just made in Nepal. It is made of Nepal.

Ask about newari kala — traditional carved sofas on WhatsApp Call 9849239091