Progetto Shantaram (Shantaram Project) starts in 2009, after many years of experience gained in the field of trade on the road; it does not aim at substituting this kind of commerce, our goal is to integrate it to reach those who are far away, to spread our love and interest for Asian handicrafts and also to organize events and meetings, in order to raise awareness among people about the issues related to international cooperation. As a matter of fact, our entrepreneurial idea stems from the union of different aspects which connect us with Asia, in particular with Nepal and India. On the one side we propose the trade of handicrafts, designed and thought by us, produced by the true protagonists of this process: that is, tailors in Nepal and India. On the other side, after many life and voluntarism experiences, in Asia and elsewhere, we would like to spread our love for the world, for people, for trips, for the nature, for everything surrounding us, but which is disappearing so rapidly in front of us.
We are not pretentious, we are satisfied with sending a message, which is also the ethics we decided to live with, a simple way of life, in touch with the reality, with the nature, with people. We learned this message through the people we met in Asia, sources of simplicity and wisdom, from which we never stop learning something new. We are sure this is not only an Asian prerogative (it is a personal passion, too!), but without any doubt these are virtues that the so-called western world lost a long time ago. Shantaram Project has been a dream and an idea for a long time, but achieved a practical dimension not so long ago. Because of this we can say that our goal is to organise promotional events at schools, clubs, voluntary organisations, social cooperatives, and for everyone who wants to give us some space and time to talk about voluntarism, international cooperation, fair trade or other topics that could come directly from you: we welcome every piece of advice! The organised events will be published on the News! page.If you want to meet us on the road and talk to us directly or see our products before buying them, you can visit the Would you like to visit us? page to discover all the dates and places where to find our stand.
The Name
Shantaram in Hindi means “Man of Peace” or “Man of God’s Peace”. As a matter of fact, Shanti means Peace. Jokingly you can say to a person “shanti-shanti”, which means more or less “take it easy!”. Shantaram is for us the simplest expression to wish everyone a world of peace, an expression which could sound like a cliché, but in reality it expresses a deep thought, which is too oft neglected. Why Shantaram Project? Project indicates something that has to grow, to evolve, to develop roots and bloom. A goal at long term which identifies a whole way of life and the choices made on its basis. Our project wants to go beyond the concept of trade and it wants to reach people and life experiences which will take place during our journey. Shantaram Project in itself does not belong to us, but can be adopted by everyone who is on the same wavelength as this life philosophy.