Ladakh Art

Our shop is located in Skalzangling, which is right near the Airport Road in Leh. Up here, things don't move as fast as they do in the big cities. We focus on traditional art, which can mean anything from wood carvings to specific types of local painting. The shop itself is small and stays quite cool even in the summer. During the winter months, things get very quiet. We spend most of that time working on projects inside while it’s cold outside. When the weather warms up and the tourists arrive, we get a lot more visitors. We don't do mass production here. Everything we make takes a bit of time. If someone is in a great rush, we usually tell them it might not be possible. We like to pay attention to the small details. The shop always has that distinct smell of wood shavings and old tools. Many of the tools we use have been in the family for a long time. We don’t really do any advertising. People usually find us because they are walking by on their way to or from the airport. We don't have any big corporate goals or plans to expand. We just want to keep the local traditions alive and make enough to get by. Sometimes the electricity is unreliable, so we just work by the natural light coming through the windows. It’s a simple way of living and working in the mountains.