The gushing streams and the rivers of the Himalayas offer an unlimited stock of naturally shaped wooden pieces for a Driftwood Artist, mostly during floods.

In forests, the roots and branches of different shapes fall in the turbulent flow of rivers and streams. They carry these pieces a long way and afterwards deposit along the levelled banks. These nature worked pieces are now collected by a person who is attracted by these strange forms of wood. He files and polishes these pieces and gives them some recognizable or abstract shapes through his imagination.

The driftwood art has grown comercially in the valley due to high inflow of tourists. The recent floods in River Beas and it's tributaries have also contributed in its growth. These floods provided thousands of raw driftwood pieces having various shapes and sizes. Driftwood articles are generally used for decoration. Tourists buy these articles to take them as a souvenir of the valley.

During the tourist season in valley many small shops display the beautiful driftwood articles on the sides of the highway. The better known shops for driftwood are in Ramshilla and Babeli which are at a distance of 2 km and 7 km respectively from Kullu bus stand on the National Highway towards Manali.

Driftwood Artists in Kullu
There are many amateurs in the valley who collect drift wood out of their curiosity and delight. Besides them, the people well- known in the valley for their skill and comercial production of driftwood articles are Pandit Durga Prasad Rao and Kuldeep Dhiman.