Sonam Palmo, a multidisciplinary artist based in Kathmandu, Nepal, has developed an internationally recognized body of work centered around the fusion of traditional Himalayan lokta paper with intricate beadwork to create radiant, sculptural lamps. Her lamps are more than decorative objects; they are expressions of cultural reverence, ecological harmony, and an evolving visual language rooted in the textures and rituals of the Himalayan region. Combining two ancient crafts—lokta papermaking and ornamental bead artistry—Palmo creates pieces that emit not only light but layered meaning, each lamp glowing with centuries of technique, spirituality, and labor.
Lokta paper, handmade from the bark of the Daphne papyracea shrub native to Nepal’s mid-hill forests, has been used for generations in Tibetan and Nepali scriptural documentation, sacred texts, and official record keeping. Revered for its durability, resistance to mold, and beautiful fibrous texture, lokta is a sustainable material harvested with minimal ecological disruption. Sonam Palmo’s family has deep roots in this tradition; her grandfather was a scribe for a local monastery, and her mother a skilled papermaker. Palmo learned early to appreciate not only the paper’s physical resilience but its symbolic power as a transmitter of knowledge and light.
It was this duality—material strength and metaphysical resonance—that inspired her to begin integrating lokta into lighting design. Initially trained as a textile artist and bead embroiderer, Palmo experimented by wrapping hand-dyed sheets of lokta over bamboo frames, adorning them with beadwork in patterns reminiscent of traditional mandalas and Thangka painting borders. She quickly realized that when lit from within, the paper acted like a spiritual canvas, allowing her beadwork to cast shadows and reflections that echoed the movement of prayer flags in the wind or the shifting glow of butter lamps in monasteries. This interplay of opacity and luminescence became central to her practice.
Each of Palmo’s lamps is constructed entirely by hand, beginning with the papermaking process itself. She often collaborates with artisans in the Baglung and Dolakha regions to produce the lokta sheets, which she then dyes using natural pigments—turmeric for gold, walnut husks for brown, indigo for blue, and dried rhododendron flowers for soft reds and pinks. These papers are then stretched and sculpted over geometric frames, typically made from sustainably harvested bamboo or forged copper rods. Once the form is complete, she begins the beading process.
Her beadwork, stitched directly onto the paper or onto layered silk appliqués, draws from a wide variety of Himalayan motifs: cloud swirls, eight auspicious symbols, stylized lotus petals, and flame-like forms representing transformation. Using glass seed beads, semi-precious stones such as turquoise and coral, and vintage brass findings sourced from Tibetan refugee markets, Palmo creates shimmering constellations that wrap around her lamps like devotional armor. The weight of the beads is carefully calibrated; too much can tear the paper, too little and the surface loses its dimensional impact. This tension between fragility and embellishment defines her aesthetic.
One of her signature works, Vajra Radiance, stands nearly two feet tall and takes the form of a conical lantern with alternating panels of dyed lokta in deep lapis and golden ochre. Beaded lightning motifs—rendered in zigzagging silver and translucent crystal beads—radiate outward from a central copper medallion engraved with the Sanskrit seed syllable “Hum.” When illuminated, the lamp casts intricate refractions across the room, mimicking the flash of light described in Buddhist iconography as symbolic of sudden awakening. The lamp, displayed at the Museum of Asian Arts in Geneva, was hailed as a fusion of spiritual form and contemporary light design.
Another notable piece, Whispers of Lungta, incorporates the colors of the five elements—blue for sky, white for air, red for fire, green for water, and yellow for earth—arranged in vertical tiers. Beaded tassels dangle from each corner, composed of tiny hand-carved bone beads and dyed agate, swaying gently with the motion of air. This lamp, intended as a contemplative object, references the traditional placement of prayer flags, known as lungta, meant to carry blessings on the wind. Palmo’s design allows the viewer to engage not only visually, but aurally and tactically, bringing together sight, touch, and motion in a unified sensory ritual.
Palmo’s work is deeply tied to community and cultural preservation. She employs and trains women from rural and marginalized communities in beadwork techniques, helping to revive patterns and stitches that have been fading from use. Her studio operates as both a production house and a learning space, where traditional knowledge is recorded, taught, and adapted for contemporary applications. Through this collaborative model, Palmo sees her lamps not as singular artistic creations, but as communal expressions—each bead and fold of paper a contribution to a shared cultural continuum.
Her installations often extend beyond the individual object. In her 2021 piece Light Mandala for Kathmandu, she suspended twenty lokta and bead lamps in a circular formation within a darkened gallery, each timed to fade in and out like synchronized breaths. The combined glow evoked both the interior of a stupa and the flickering of stars in a high-altitude sky, creating a space that felt meditative, celestial, and deeply terrestrial all at once. The installation was described by visitors as both calming and energizing—a reflection of Palmo’s ongoing effort to translate the Himalayan spiritual ethos into tactile, illuminated form.
What makes Sonam Palmo’s bead and paper lamps extraordinary is their synthesis of ancient and modern, sacred and everyday, object and experience. In a single lamp, she brings together centuries of craft heritage, ecological consciousness, spiritual symbolism, and contemporary design thinking. Her use of beads is never gratuitous; it is rhythmic, intentional, and rooted in a tradition of adornment that is as much about protection and honor as it is about beauty. Likewise, her use of lokta paper affirms the role of natural materials in creating objects that are not just visually arresting but ethically grounded.
In every lamp she constructs, Sonam Palmo invites us to reimagine light—not just as a source of visibility, but as a metaphor for connection, resilience, and transformation. Her beadwork does not sit atop her lamps as mere embellishment; it weaves through them like a pulse, guiding the eye and spirit. Through the soft strength of paper and the precision of the bead, she creates forms that glow from within, each one a quiet torch carrying Himalayan tradition into the luminous present.