KVPT’s Patan Darbar Earthquake Response Campaign - Work to Date - September 2016

Left
Pushpa Lal Shilpakar carves a deity
in a renewed part of pillar “MP7”.
Right
Pratap Shilpakar copies a beehive
pattern (Nev. hāchẽ) of a god-window
of South Manimaṇḍapa.
Pushpa Lal Shilpakar, woodcarver, age 37
Pushpa Lal Shilpakar lives in Tekhapukhu, Bhaktapur,
with his wife, son and daughter. Carpentry/carving has
been his family trade and both his brothers (Raju Shilpakar
(51), Bishnu Shilpakar (42)) and his cousins (Punya
Mangal (33) and Panch Ratna (28)) are working in this
field. Pushpa Lal learned carving skill at a local woodcarving
workshop. He has been working in this field for
twenty-two years and thinks that the carving trade and
selling carving products has been severely affected by the
recent earthquake. He has been working with KVPT
since October 2015.
Pratap Shilpakar, woodcarver, age 36
Pratap Shilpakar lives in the quarter of Yāchẽ, Bhaktapur,
with his family. Being the only person in his family
who works as carver, he has been working in this
business for eighteen years. His family was involved in
making wooden neckties, which was a very popular item
among tourists. He said they used to get large orders of
wood neckties from Europe. He joined the restoration
project in Patan in March 2016. At the time of the interview,
he was working on a cornice piece for South
Manimaṇḍapa.
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