Crafts carry skill from one generation to the next. This page lists the crafts on the atlas by country, from weaving and pottery to metalwork, painting and woodwork.
Use the GI tag filter on the map to see crafts and products protected by a Geographical Indication, and the comparison sets to see the same craft in different places.
77 pins in 37 countries.
Traditional crafts are objects made by hand using skills and designs passed down in a community, such as hand-woven textiles, pottery, carved wood or beaten metal.
It is a craft whose name is registered as a Geographical Indication, which means it is legally tied to the place it comes from, such as Kanjeevaram silk sarees from Tamil Nadu.
The modern dot painting style began in 1971 at Papunya, west of Alice Springs, as artists began to use acrylic paint to depict Dreaming stories.
A delicate muslin cloth with woven-in patterns, made on handlooms near Dhaka. The craft is on UNESCO's intangible heritage list.
Bruges is known for delicate bobbin lace, made by twisting and crossing many threads wound on small bobbins.
Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast carve tall cedar poles with ancestral figures and family stories. Haida Gwaii is a major centre for the art.
Carvers from the Arctic make animals, spirits and everyday scenes from soapstone. Kinngait is internationally known for its art and printmaking.
Known as the porcelain capital, Jingdezhen has produced fine white porcelain for more than a thousand years, including blue-and-white ware.
Embroiderers use very fine silk threads to create lifelike pictures, sometimes stitched on both sides of the same cloth.
The so-called Panama hat is actually woven in Ecuador from toquilla palm fibre. The weaving is on UNESCO's intangible heritage list.
Craftspeople cast and engrave metal crosses with intricate lattice patterns that differ among regions of Ethiopia.
Maya women weave cloth on a backstrap loom, with colours and patterns that identify the village each person comes from.
A porcelain manufactory founded in 1826 that supplied royal courts across Europe. Every piece is painted by hand.
Fine pashmina wool shawls, woven and then embroidered by hand, have been made in the Kashmir valley for centuries.
Jaipur's blue pottery is glazed with cobalt blue and turquoise floral patterns, and is made from quartz rather than clay.
Varanasi's weavers make silk brocades woven with gold and silver thread, traditionally used for bridal saris.
Women in the Mithila region have painted walls and floors with intricate scenes and patterns for generations. Today the art is also made on paper and cloth.
The Warli people paint simple white shapes — circles, triangles and lines — on earthen walls to show dances, harvests and daily life.
Dark metal vessels inlaid with silver patterns are named after the city of Bidar, where the craft developed in the 14th century.
Delicate hand embroidery in fine thread on light cotton and muslin, with floral patterns, a speciality of Lucknow.
Painters in the craft village of Raghurajpur paint mythological scenes in natural colours on treated cloth or palm leaf.
Fabric is painted with a bamboo pen dipped in vegetable dyes, with mythological scenes and flowing floral designs.
An ancient method of casting figures in brass using a wax model and clay mould, still practised by tribal artisans in central and eastern India.
Kanchipuram weavers make durable silk saris with gold-thread borders in temple and floral motifs, and the cloth carries a geographical indication.
Yarn is tied and dyed before weaving so that geometric patterns appear in the finished cloth. It is known as the silk city of India.
Artisans turn wood on a lathe and colour it with natural lacquer to make toys, so the town is known as the toy town of India.
Paintings of deities in rich colours with gold foil and inlaid stones, developed under the Maratha rulers of Thanjavur.
Women of different Kutchi communities stitch bold geometric and floral designs with tiny mirrors onto clothes and hangings.
Handmade leather sandals, hand-stitched and dyed with natural colours, made in and around Kolhapur and nearby districts.
Warm woollen shawls with bold geometric borders woven on handlooms in the Kullu valley.
Sheer, lightweight silk-cotton fabric with woven gold motifs, made in the small town of Chanderi.
A natural golden silk from a silkworm found only in Assam. Its shine grows with every wash.
The 'Silk City' of Bihar is known for tussar silk and for Bhagalpuri fabrics woven on handlooms.
Cotton-silk sarees with a distinctive joined border and a red pallu, woven in the town of Ilkal for over a thousand years.
Soft silk with pure gold zari, woven using mulberry silk from the Mysuru region.
Painters of the Gond community fill animals, trees and spirits with fine dots and lines. The style became widely known through the artist Jangarh Singh Shyam.
Long painted cloth scrolls tell the stories of local heroes such as Pabuji. Bhopas, the singers who perform with them, tell the tale in front of the scroll.
Vivid painted scrolls made by a community of storytellers in Telangana, with narrative panels like a comic strip.
Bold-lined paintings created by artists around the Kalighat temple in the 19th century, with humour about city life.
Women paint the walls of village homes with animals and plants during the harvest festival Sohrai and at weddings (Khovar).
A cloth made for the goddess, hand-painted and block-printed with natural dyes by the Vaghari community.
Mud-and-mirror relief work on the walls of Kutchi round houses, shaped by hand into swirling patterns.
Leather shadow puppets, cut and painted in bright translucent colours, enact scenes from the epics on a lit screen.
Fabric is patterned by drawing with hot wax before dyeing. Batik is recognised on UNESCO's intangible heritage list.
The village of Mas is known for its wood carvers, who make statues, masks and decorative panels for temples and homes.
Tabriz is one of Iran's oldest carpet-weaving centres, known for finely knotted wool and silk rugs.
Fishermen's sweaters of the Aran Islands have rope, diamond and honeycomb stitches that carry local meanings.
Glassmakers were moved to the island of Murano in the 13th century, and their coloured and clear glassware became famous worldwide.
The Nishijin district in Kyoto has produced woven silk for kimono and obi for centuries.
The art of folding paper into figures has a long history in Japan and has inspired mathematicians and engineers.
Traditional Japanese paper made from the inner bark of plants such as kozo. Washi is strong, thin and used for art, screens and conservation. It is on UNESCO's intangible heritage list.
Japan's first porcelain was made in Arita in the early 17th century. Decorated wares were exported across Europe through the Dutch.
A town with about 800 years of swordmaking tradition that now makes knives, scissors and razors prized around the world.
Maasai women make bright beaded collars, bracelets and earrings. The colours and patterns show age, status and community.
The cone-shaped mokorotlo hat, woven from local grass, is a national symbol of Lesotho and appears on its flag.
A handwoven silk or cotton cloth with gold or silver threads added by hand into the weave, worn at weddings and royal ceremonies.
Handwoven cotton is dyed with fermented mud to create bold geometric patterns, each of which carries its own symbolism.
Puebla's tin-glazed pottery, painted in bold blues and other colours, is recognised on UNESCO's intangible heritage list.
Villagers in Oaxaca carve copal wood into fantastical animals and paint them in vivid patterns.
Potters shape clay by hand, polish it with a quartz stone and fire it in a smoky kiln, giving it a shiny black finish.
In the old medina, leather has been tanned and dyed for centuries in open stone vats, using natural materials and colours.
Dutch potters imitated imported Chinese porcelain with blue-painted tin-glazed earthenware, which became known as Delft blue.
Carvers produce intricate patterned work for meeting houses and ornaments. The New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute teaches it in Rotorua.
The Tuareg of the Sahara make silver crosses, rings and amulets, each style linked to a particular region. Agadez is the centre of the craft.
Court artists of the Kingdom of Benin cast detailed brass plaques and heads from the 16th century. Many were taken to Europe in 1897, and calls for their return continue.
Sámi handicraft that uses materials from reindeer herding, such as horn, bone and leather, as well as woven bands and colourful clothing.
Small portable boxes with scenes made of painted figures, a tradition that began with religious altarpieces and now also shows village life.
Blue-and-white painted tiles cover churches, stations and house facades across Portugal. Lisbon's National Tile Museum traces their history.
Painted wooden dolls that open to reveal smaller ones inside. Sergiev Posad is a historic toy-making centre.
Colourful beaded pieces carry messages through patterns and colour combinations, and are worn in ceremonies and at weddings.
Korean potters of the Goryeo dynasty perfected a delicate green glaze and inlay technique. Gangjin was a major kiln centre.
Korean handmade paper made from mulberry bark is strong enough for windows, floors, boxes and books. Jeonju hosts a hanji festival.
A town planned around watchmaking workshops, recognised by UNESCO together with Le Locle for its role in the Swiss watch industry.
Women across Polynesia beat the inner bark of the paper mulberry into cloth and decorate it with patterns. In Tonga it is called ngatu and is used at weddings and funerals.
Ottoman potters at İznik made tiles with vivid blue, turquoise and red tulips and carnations that decorate mosques such as the Blue Mosque.
A tweed that, by law, must be handwoven by islanders in their homes in the Outer Hebrides from Scottish wool.
Navajo weavers make wool rugs with bold geometric designs using upright looms, a skill passed down through families.
Hopi potters build pots by hand from coils of local clay and paint them with traditional designs before firing.
Silk threads are tied and dyed before weaving, which gives the cloth its blurred, feathery patterns. Margilan is a traditional centre.