Crafts and making
Weaving, pottery, carving and other handed-down skills.
Crafts and making are the skills of hand and eye that are handed down in families and workshops: weaving, pottery, carving, metalwork, embroidery, dyeing, basketry, paper, leather and wood. A craft tradition is also a tradition of knowledge, about plants, clays, tools and patterns, and of values such as patience and care. Here they are listed by country, with notes on where the craft is practised and how makers keep it alive.
Skill passed on
Most crafts are learnt by watching a parent or master for years. A weaver in Bonwire, a potter in Oaxaca, a lacquer worker in Kyoto and a carpenter in Norway all learn by doing. Some crafts are kept within a family or a caste, others are open to anyone willing to learn. The tools are often simple and the techniques ancient, though the best makers experiment within the tradition.
Craft in a changing world
Mass production and cheap imports have put many crafts under pressure, but there is also a revival, with designers, schools, cooperatives and fair trade shops supporting makers. UNESCO and national bodies list living treasures and protect skills. Buyers can help by choosing handmade pieces and asking who made them. A craft survives when someone still wants the object and someone still wants to learn to make it.
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Background on Crafts and making (kind of tradition). Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
🇻🇳 Huế, VietnamNón lá𥶄蘿
A pointed leaf and bamboo hat worn across Vietnam for shelter, work and celebrationDress
🇹🇱 Dili, Timor-Leste and 1 moreTais
Traditional hand-woven cloth of East Timor, worn as dress or used in ceremonies and exchange.Dress
🇮🇩 Bali, Indonesia and 5 moreIkat
A resist-dyeing craft from Southeast Asia, where yarns are tied and dyed before weavingCraft
🇵🇭 Cebu, PhilippinesBatok
Indigenous Filipino tattooing, once worn as dress, rank and a rite of passageCraft
🇮🇩 Yogyakarta, IndonesiaWayangꦮꦪꦁ
A night-long puppet theatre from Java, where a dalang tells epics behind a lit screenPerformance
🇵🇭 San Fernando, Philippines and 3 moreParolparól
A Filipino star lantern of bamboo and paper, hung at Christmas from September to JanuaryFestival
🇰🇭 Cambodia and 2 moreSampotសំពត់
A length of cloth wrapped at the waist, the everyday and ceremonial dress of CambodiaDress
🇲🇲 Myanmar and 1 moreLongyiလုံချည်
A tube of cloth worn from waist to feet in Myanmar, folded shut with no knotDress
🇵🇭 PhilippinesBarong tagalog
The Philippine national shirt for men: embroidered, worn loose and never tucked inDress
🇮🇩 Indonesia and 5 moreBatikꦧꦛꦶꦏ꧀ (bathik)
A Javanese wax-resist way of patterning cloth, and the textiles made that wayCraft
🇮🇩 Yogyakarta, Indonesia and 4 moreKebayaꦏꦼꦧꦪ
A front-opening blouse and wrapped cloth, worn by women across Southeast AsiaDress
🇮🇩 Palembang, Indonesia and 3 moreSongketᬲᭀᬂᬓᬾᬢ᭄
A hand-woven cloth threaded with gold or silver, worn at weddings and royal courtsDress
🇵🇭 PhilippinesTapis
A hand-woven wrap skirt from the Philippines, fastened at the waist with a sashDress
🇮🇩 IndonesiaBatik kawung
An old Indonesian batik pattern of four neat ovals, read as fruit or lotusCraft
🇵🇭 PhilippinesBali-og
Layered necklaces and fringed collars from the Visayas and MindanaoDress
🇵🇭 PhilippinesPatadyong
A traditional Philippine wrap skirt and versatile woven cloth from the VisayasDress
🇵🇭 PhilippinesInabel weavingAbél-Ilóco
A handwoven cotton textile tradition of the Ilocano people in Northern Luzon, Philippines.Craft
🇲🇲 Amarapura, MyanmarAcheikအချိတ်
A Burmese silk weave of waves and stripes, made with up to 200 shuttlesDress
🇰🇭 Longvek, Cambodia and 2 moreKhmer traditional clothing
How Khmer people dress: the wrapped sampot, the embroidered sbai, the checkered kramaDress
🇰🇭 CambodiaAv pakអាវប៉ាក់
A Cambodian women's shirt in silk or cotton, embroidered or laced, for festivalsDress
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Ikat: Midori, CC BY 3.0, source
- Nón lá: Ratmanhme282020, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tais: Daderot, CC0, source
- Longyi: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Sampot: George Groslier (1887–1945), Public domain, source
- Wayang: Kevin Gessner, CC BY 2.0, source
- Parol: Ervin Malicdem, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Barong tagalog: Hiart, CC0, source
- Batik kawung: Alteaven, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bali-og: Patrick Poculan, CC BY 2.0, source
- Patadyong: Anonymous Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Batok: Lee, CC BY 2.0, source
- Inabel weaving: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Batik: Fpangestuphotographer, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kebaya: Simon_sees, CC BY 2.0, source
- Songket: Rijksmuseum, CC0, source
- Acheik: Chenzeyan29, CC0, source
- Khmer traditional clothing: Engsamnang, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Av pak: Puppetcreator, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Tapis: Hiart, CC0, source