Our Legacy

Some call us a maximalist’s dream, while some know us for balancing the very opposite worlds of paper and handlooms. Well, I’d say, THE HANDLOOM GYPSY is a potpourri of memories- gifted by my greatest best friend, my dadu- the one who shaped my journey long before I even knew what the nuances of life were, through the path of his dearest brainchild, known to the world as Oxford Paper Products Pvt Ltd; the one who taught me, there’s a whole universe to papers outside a simple notebook- so yes, in order to share my story, I’d humbly like to tell the story of our roots- the legacy of my dadu, passed down to the third generation today.

Beyond the Barbed Wires, the Journey From Dream to Reality

It all began from a step. A tiny, rather nervous footstep, maybe tinged with a little bit of excitement for the unknown, and a lot of hope- when, in post-independence 1949, a youth from the small village of Inam Sapulli in the then Opaar Bangla stepped into the bustling lanes of Kolkata. A youth, who was unknowingly destined to change the world of paper in eastern India-Sri Narayan Chandra Saha- the root of our universe.

Having excelled in his matriculation exam from Bangladesh, he arrived at Kolkata with dreams of higher education- however, amidst the difficulties of setting up a life in a new country, the goal of studying further remained a distant dream. From a little, rented room in Shobhabazar, in need of sustaining a livelihood, he took a job under a Bengali merchant named Judhishthir Dawn, who owned a company that made “Jabeda Khata” (daily calculation books).

From Scratch to Stardust

Starting from a meagre salary of only Rs 60 per month, began a journey that’d rewrite the story of the east Indian paper industry in the coming decades. Sri Narayan learnt the very art of making notebooks, slowly, bit by bit, and of the various nuances related to it.

Amidst it all, the yearning for staying close to education kept burning bright in his heart- so, as he would say later on, he took the step from where he could achieve his dream of studying through facilitating educational necessities for the next generations. After gaining an experience of years as an artisan himself, along with his maternal cousin, Shri Manoranjan Saha, in 1960 he established “Traders’ Syndicate”, that would eventually go on to become Oxford Paper Products Pvt. Ltd.

Begun with a capital of only Rs 11,000 and only one staff, it wasn’t long before this initiative of the two brothers reached heights of success, under virtues of persistent honesty and hard work- gradually making Oxford the fore runner in the paper product manufacturing industry of eastern and north eastern India.

In 1994, from Traders’ Syndicate, the company’s name was permanently changed to “Oxford Paper Products Private Limited”

From a Name to a Brand, and then a Legacy 

Over decades of hard work, persistence and a vision for innovation, Sri Narayan Chandra Saha spread his dream to his sons, and the business grew. An avid traveller himself,fondly famous as “Borobabu” amongst all in the paper industry, he planted the seeds of our brand through all over Eastern and North Eastern India. Pieces from Oxford Paper Products Pvt Ltd. began finding homes throughout Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, North Bengal, spreading till Bhutan, and all-around West Bengal, Odisha, spreading upto Andhra Pradesh.

Oxford Paper Products celebrated its golden jubilee in 2010, currently journeying through its sixty sixth year, under the able leadership of the second generation, Sri Narayan Chandra Saha’s sons, Sri Nilkamal Saha and Sri Sankar Saha, joined by the third generation, who continue to thrive on the gateway of hard work and honesty, supported by a great team who make Oxford more a family, a legacy than a brand.

The Legacy, Continued

….and here’s where, The Handloom Gypsy was born- known to the world as the next generation in the trade, but to her dadu as the friend who shared his dream, through the love for papers and travelling. Dadu had a habit, where he would bring the indigenous textiles belonging to every region, from his business trips- seen as travel souvenirs to plain eyes, those textiles carried my grandfather’s love for culture, his thirst for knowledge and literature; it was his little way of carrying back a slice of the lands he visited, for his loved ones- he wanted those little known stories to be told- so growing up with my own love for handlooms inherited from my mother, I somehow kept wishing for a way to bring Dadu’s admiration for textiles, together with his love for paper.

And so was born, the textile notebooks of ODE TO INDIA, under Oxford Paper Products Pvt Ltd- by the ideation of THE HANDLOOM GYPSY, as an homage to the one who inspired it all.

Today, while we continue our production at Oxford Paper Products Pvt Ltd, The Handloom Gypsy has become the address through which our products will find their new homes, with the same spirit, the same transparency and quality that has graced our journey since the very beginning.

“OUR SINCEREST GRATITUDE TO YOU FOR BEING A PART OF OUR STORY”
– Somdatta | THE HANDLOOM GYPSY

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