Our story

A wholesale platform built on named people, not commodities.

Himalayan Region is the outward face of a network — women-led Self-Help Groups, smallholder farmers, wild-harvest cooperatives, and folk-art guilds spread across 50+ villages of Uttarakhand. Every product we ship is traceable to a producer we know by name.

Jyoti Bisht — Founder of Himalayan Region
Founded 2021 · GI-registered Aipan
Women farmers and artisans of Uttarakhand
The founder

Jyoti Bisht — entrepreneur and Aipan artist.

Himalayan Region was born from a simple conviction Jyoti has carried since childhood: that the extraordinary produce and heritage crafts of Uttarakhand's mountain villages deserve a place on the world stage, and that the women who create them must lead the way.

An entrepreneur and a practising Aipan artist, Jyoti bridges two worlds with equal devotion — the rigour of building a compliant, export-ready supply chain, and the quiet artistry of a folk tradition passed from mother to daughter across generations. Under her leadership, the company partners directly with women-led Self-Help Groups to guarantee fair compensation, traceable sourcing, and dignity for every producer behind our SKUs.

Her devotion to preserving Aipan — Kumaon's sacred, GI-tagged folk art — sits at the heart of the company's identity: proof that authentic commerce and cultural stewardship can rise together.

"When a woman in the mountains earns with dignity, she doesn't rise alone — she lifts her family, her craft, and her village with her."

— Jyoti Bisht, Founder
What we stand for

Four commitments we don't compromise on.

01

Named producers

Every SKU traces to a village, a Self-Help Group, or a specific harvester. No anonymous commodity flow.

02

Women-led sourcing

50+ women-led SHGs form the backbone of our supply. Fair-price payments settle directly to producers.

03

Compliance by default

FSSAI licensing, GI-tag documentation, export paperwork — handled on our side, transparent to yours.

04

Cultural stewardship

We protect the folk-art traditions we sell. Every Aipan piece supports the artist and the tradition together.

GI-tagged since 2021

Aipan — the sacred folk art of Kumaon.

Aipan (also called Aepan or Alpana) is the ritualistic folk art of the Kumaon Himalayas, believed to have flourished in Almora under the Chand dynasty. The name derives from Arpan — an offering. For centuries, Kumaoni women have painted these designs on thresholds, prayer rooms, and temple walls during weddings, naming ceremonies, and festivals, believing they invite prosperity and protect the household.

Every authentic Aipan begins and ends with a bindu — a single dot from which every pattern radiates. In September 2021, Aipan received India's Geographical Indication (GI) tag, formally recognising it as a protected heritage craft of Uttarakhand.

Our artisan partners carry this living tradition onto framed panels, wooden plates, canvas, and textiles — contemporary formats with completely traditional technique. Watch the process on The Aipan Artist channel →

Hand-painted Aipan Ganesha shloka wall cloth from Kumaon
The technique

Geru, biswar, and three fingers — nothing else.

The surface is first laid with geru, a natural red-ochre clay symbolising fortune and fertility. Designs are then drawn freehand — traditionally with the last three fingers of the right hand — using biswar, a white paste of ground rice. No stencils, no prints: motifs of Lakshmi's footprints, lotus, conch, swastik, and shatkon flow entirely from memory, which is why no two pieces are ever identical.

Hand-painted Aipan wall plates collection
Studio

Plates & panels

Colorful Aipan mandala plates and canvas panels
Studio

Canvas & textiles

Aipan exhibition display, Uttarakhand
Field

Exhibitions & events

Himalayan village producer partner
The supply chain

50+ villages. One accountable partner.

Our sourcing network reaches across the Kumaon and Garhwal divisions of Uttarakhand — from wild-harvest villages of Munsiyari and Pithoragarh to millet-belt terraces around Chakrata and Almora, to the Aipan artisan clusters of Nainital and Ranikhet.

We consolidate the fragmentation, document the compliance, and present a single traceable supply to buyers. Producers see fair prices and consistent orders; buyers see predictable quality and a story worth putting on the label.

How our wholesale model works →
Agro-tourism

The mountains, on your terms.

For hospitality partners and tour operators, we build turnkey itineraries into the villages we source from — harvest walks with growers, hands-on Aipan workshops, homestay networks vetted for hygiene and safety, and consolidated logistics to and from Dehradun.

Programmes range from a single afternoon to a 10-day producer-immersion. Every itinerary channels revenue back to the same Self-Help Groups behind our product lines.

Enquire about tourism partnerships
Himalayan agro-tourism village experience
Work with us

Every product carries a village behind it.

Tell us what you need — samples, a wholesale quote, a private-label brief, or a tourism itinerary. We respond within one business day.

ESC

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