Bhutan's Desho Paper Makers Face Falling Orders and an Uncertain Market

Two workers keep Jigme's paper workshop going

A handmade paper center in Jigme village, in Bhutan's Dophuchen gewog, once produced more than 2,000 sheets a month for retailers in Thimphu, Paro and Samtse. By September 7, 2025, orders were arriving sporadically, production had become irregular, and the workshop employed just two workers, down from three.

The enterprise began in 2003 with support from the Tarayana Foundation. Members of the Lhop community built a business around desho, Bhutan's traditional paper made from the bark of the Daphne shrub. The workshop still has the ability to increase production when buyers place orders. Finding enough consistent business is the difficulty.

Sonam Tshering, the manager of the Jigme village center, described the problem facing the workshop:

Desho has some market issues. We cannot sell the products easily.

Sonam Tshering said the gaps between orders determine when the team can work:

Production has become irregular since we do not get consistent orders.

Each of the two workers earns Nu 8,000 a month. Nu stands for the Bhutanese ngultrum. Villagers say the modest pay remains useful because the workplace is nearby, commuting costs are minimal and other employment options in the rural community are limited.

The slowdown reaches beyond the two paid positions. Other Lhop residents supply bark and other materials when the workshop needs them. An order for finished paper therefore also creates work for people collecting its ingredients. When orders become scarce, activity slows along that local supply chain.

Jigme's experience brings together several pressures on traditional papermaking: competition from cheaper imported paper, limited marketing skills, a costly encounter with online fraud and the need to protect the shrubs that provide the raw material.

A paper that carried Bhutan's written heritage

Desho is valued for its strong fibers, distinctive texture and durability. For generations, it provided a surface for Buddhist scriptures printed from carved wooden blocks, official documents and calligraphy. Its resistance to insects and ability to hold ink made it useful for texts and records intended to last.

Bhutan's papermaking tradition, also called Dey zo or Shog zo, connects several kinds of skilled work. Monasteries depended on paper for printing religious texts and local literature. Calligraphers spent years learning to prepare the scripts that would be engraved into wooden blocks and printed onto sheets.

Cultural research on woodblock traditions in Asia describes the use of different Daphne species in Bhutan to produce different qualities of paper. The material linked people who gathered plants, artisans who made sheets, calligraphers who prepared writing and institutions that preserved and circulated knowledge.

Making desho remains demanding physical work. Bark is carefully stripped from the shrub, soaked, boiled, cleaned and beaten into pulp. Artisans lift the pulp onto frames to form sheets, then press and dry them to achieve an even finish.

Each stage affects the finished paper. Bark preparation, pulp making, sheet formation and drying are skills that workers must learn and retain. The craft combines knowledge of plants with the practical chemistry of turning bark into a surface suitable for writing and printing.

Imported paper and industrial pulp changed buying habits across the region. Paper made in large quantities is cheaper and easier to obtain in bulk, giving buyers a convenient alternative. Artists, monks and tourists continue to show interest in heritage goods, but that interest has not brought the Jigme workshop a dependable flow of orders.

How early support became a thinner order book

The Tarayana Foundation initially helped Jigme's producers learn manufacturing steps, maintain quality and present their paper to retailers. Its practical support also connected the workshop with buyers, helping villagers gain confidence in the business.

Sonam Tshering recalled that the enterprise once earned enough to cover wages and retain some money:

Back then, after paying the workers, we could still make some profit.

The villagers later took responsibility for daily operations as the foundation stepped back from management. Tarayana still provides occasional materials and equipment, but the community now handles the business itself.

Orders tapered even though the center retained the capacity to produce at volume. Retailers struggled during the pandemic years, imported paper remained readily available, and the small team lacked a clear route to new customers. Many Bhutanese consumers have never heard of the Jigme workshop or do not know where to buy its paper.

The result is a cycle of short production runs followed by idle periods while the manager waits for another request. A workshop that can make paper still needs regular outgoing shipments to organize work and plan its spending.

The enterprise's history includes these milestones:

• 2003: The Jigme village paper enterprise began with support from the Tarayana Foundation.
• The pandemic years: Retailers struggled, adding pressure to a business already facing competition from imported paper.
• September 7, 2025: The center was operating with two workers, irregular production and inconsistent orders, compared with earlier output of more than 2,000 sheets a month.

No current monthly production figure or timetable for restoring regular orders was given. The immediate challenge is turning the workshop's production capacity into reliable sales.

An online loss deepens the marketing problem

Online sales could connect Jigme with buyers beyond nearby towns, but the team faces both a skills gap and a loss of confidence. Sonam Tshering said he was not comfortable using e-commerce or social media to market the workshop's products.

The manager explained his difficulty with online promotion:

I am not educated, so I cannot do online marketing.

The center also lost more than Nu 80,000 in a fraudulent online transaction. For a small rural enterprise, that is a substantial financial blow. The loss exceeded five months of the two current workers' combined wages, calculated from their monthly pay of Nu 8,000 each.

Fraud also damages the trust needed to sell at a distance. A producer must be able to check whether a buyer is genuine, agree on an order and receive payment securely. Without confidence in those steps, access to a larger online market can feel risky.

Guidance on secure payments, reliable platforms and checking buyers could help producers handle those risks. Shared online stores managed by trusted organizations, including NGOs or cooperatives, could screen orders and process transactions through vetted systems.

Basic training in product photography, order handling and safe payment methods would address practical gaps. Partnerships with postal and courier services could also give rural producers more predictable shipping arrangements at a fair cost. These are possible forms of support, rather than established sales arrangements for the Jigme center.

Protecting the shrubs behind every sheet

Jigme's papermaking depends on a supply network extending into nearby communities. Residents of Dumtoe and Denchukha collect raw materials when Sonam Tshering tells them the workshop needs more.

The manager described how demand determines collection:

People from Dumtoe and Denchukha come with raw materials when there is a need. The collection depends on the demand I communicate to them.

Daphne can regenerate when bark is removed carefully and in the appropriate season. Rushed or careless stripping can kill the shrub, reducing the material available for future harvests. Protecting the plant is therefore part of keeping the paper business running.

Experience in Trashi Yangtse shows how the supply can come under pressure. Traditional paper makers there faced a Daphne shortage caused by excessive extraction. Boomdeling Wildlife Sanctuary responded by planting around 1,500 Daphne saplings, with plans to plant more.

Replanting helps rebuild the resource, but the need for restoration also shows the costs of collecting bark faster than plants can recover. A craft that depends on local vegetation needs both customers and a dependable supply of healthy shrubs.

For units such as Jigme's, clear harvesting rules, replanting and coordination with forestry and conservation teams could help maintain that supply. Production planning and resource management are connected: collectors respond to orders, while future orders depend on having enough suitable bark.

Can Bhutanese buyers provide steadier demand?

Some residents see greater local awareness as the first step toward stronger sales. Schools, monasteries, artists and offices could become customers if they knew the workshop existed and understood where to buy its products.

Chimmi, a local resident, called for more support from Bhutanese buyers:

If more Bhutanese supported local paper instead of importing, it would help the economy and keep initiatives like this going.

Desho can be sold as sheets or turned into journals, greeting cards, notebooks and certificates. Such products fit existing markets for carefully made Bhutanese goods. Bookstores and gift shops can offer items whose place of origin and method of production are clear to customers.

Monasteries and cultural institutions could use the paper for small print runs of texts or restoration work. Private offices could buy distinctive stationery for important events. Invitations, awards and corporate gifts offer other possible uses.

Coordinating purchases would matter as much as identifying buyers. Reliable notice gives a small workshop time to arrange bark collection, schedule production and finish the required quantity. A series of planned purchases could make work more predictable than isolated requests.

Local buying would also keep more activity within the community. The workshop pays workers, calls on residents for materials and supplies retailers in Bhutanese towns. A stronger order book could support each part of that chain.

Tourists, classrooms and ceremonies offer potential markets

Visitors looking for objects connected to Bhutan's culture are a natural audience for desho journals, art prints and cards. These products carry a connection to the place where they were made and to a craft with a long role in Bhutanese life.

Live demonstrations could provide another source of income. A workshop that charges visitors to watch papermaking can earn a fee while giving potential buyers a closer understanding of the work involved. Clear signs in craft markets and partnerships with galleries in Thimphu and Paro could help explain the paper's qualities.

Schools and universities offer a different route to demand. Art and design classes could use desho for printmaking and calligraphy, introducing students to Bhutanese materials through practical work.

Graduating classes and student clubs could also choose it for certificates and yearbooks. Such purchases would combine an immediate order with opportunities for younger people to become familiar with traditional paper in everyday settings.

Hotels, event planners and cultural festivals have possible uses for desho in menus, programs and place cards. A single large ceremony can require hundreds of sheets, making organized event purchases potentially useful to small producers.

Buyers need consistency as well as character. Standard specifications for sheet size, thickness and finish would make it easier to order again with confidence. For the workshop, repeat purchases based on agreed requirements could reduce some of the uncertainty that now interrupts production.

Business support beyond the workshop floor

The Jigme center's experience shows the range of tasks a small producer must manage after learning to make a good product. Pricing, packaging, marketing, transport and payments all affect whether a sheet of paper becomes income.

Coaching in packaging, pricing and consistent quality could help small producers prepare for repeat business. Shared distribution networks could reduce the cost of moving goods from rural workshops to urban shops. Joint stalls at fairs and trade shows could introduce artisans to institutions able to place larger orders.

A national program certifying quality and origin is another policy option. A clear assurance about where paper comes from and how it meets an agreed standard could make retailers more confident about stocking it.

Bhutan has already used awards to encourage cottage industries to improve quality and build a recognizable reputation. Tshejor's Ayzey won the country's first National Trademark Award in 2018. A trademark helps distinguish one business's products from those of another.

Similar recognition for desho producers could reward consistency and the ability to explain a product's origins. For heritage goods, buyers often want to understand both what they are purchasing and the people and practices behind it.

Tarayana's continuing occasional support with materials and equipment remains part of Jigme's operation. The gap now extends beyond tools: the workshop also needs ways to reach customers, manage transactions safely and turn interest in traditional paper into purchases that sustain regular work.

Irregular work puts knowledge under pressure

Jigme's reduction from three paid workers to two leaves fewer people earning a living directly from the craft. When production repeatedly stops and starts, attracting younger residents and justifying lengthy apprenticeships becomes harder.

Learning desho involves more than following a recipe. Workers need experience in harvesting bark, preparing pulp, forming sheets and finishing paper. If people with those skills leave for other livelihoods, rebuilding the workshop's knowledge could take years.

Laya's traditional bamboo hat provides a warning from another Bhutanese craft. Several years earlier, the number of active weavers fell sharply. When only a few elders retain a practice, illness or relocation can interrupt the transfer of knowledge to another generation.

Desho connects contemporary rural employment with the methods Bhutan used to preserve and share knowledge for centuries. Its survival as a working craft depends on people being able to earn from the patience and skill it requires.

For Jigme, steadier demand, careful bark harvesting and safer access to customers are closely connected needs. Regular orders would give workers a reason to stay, collectors a clearer schedule and the community a stronger basis for passing the craft on.

At a Glance

• Jigme village's desho enterprise began in 2003 with Tarayana Foundation support and once made more than 2,000 sheets a month.
• As of September 7, 2025, inconsistent orders had left production irregular, with two workers earning Nu 8,000 each per month.
• The workshop supplies retailers in Thimphu, Paro and Samtse, while residents of Dumtoe and Denchukha provide materials when needed.
• A fraudulent online transaction cost the center more than Nu 80,000, adding to difficulties with digital marketing.
• Desho is made from Daphne bark and has long served Bhutanese scripture printing, calligraphy and official record keeping.
• Excessive Daphne extraction in Trashi Yangtse prompted Boomdeling Wildlife Sanctuary to plant around 1,500 saplings, with more planned.
• Domestic purchases, tourism, educational uses and institutional orders offer possible markets, supported by consistent quality, reliable delivery and secure payments.
• Irregular employment threatens the transfer of papermaking skills to younger residents.