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Craft Techniques of Chile

The Depository documents 15 techniques in Chile; by risk level: 1 critically endangered, 3 endangered, 11 vulnerable. Each record opens with a public summary; the full research record is free to view once registered.

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Basketry & Woven Fiber

  • Aymara Camelid-Fiber Weaving (Arica y Parinacota / Tarapacá)Basketry & Woven Fiber · Vulnerable

    The shearing, spinning, and backstrap- or four-stake-loom weaving of llama and alpaca fiber into aguayos (large blankets), ponchos, wakas (woven sashes), and a rich further named repertoire — axo, lijllia, fajas, incuñas, panamantas,…

  • Chiloé Quilineja Basketry (Los Lagos Region)Basketry & Woven Fiber · Vulnerable

    The weaving of baskets and brooms from quilineja (Luzuriaga radicans), a fine-rooted evergreen climbing vine native to Chile and Argentina, harvested by Chiloé artisans deep in the archipelago's forests, where they seek out the plant…

  • Chimbarongo Mimbre Wicker Weaving (O'Higgins Region)Basketry & Woven Fiber · Vulnerable

    The cultivation and weaving of mimbre — the fiber of Salix, a fast-growing willow species capable of reaching five meters in a single year — into baskets, furniture, and lighting, centered in Chimbarongo, 150–160 km south of Santiago in…

  • Chupalla de Ninhue Wheat-Straw Hat Weaving (Ñuble Region)Basketry & Woven Fiber · Vulnerable

    The braiding of local wheat straw into cuelchas (long plaited strands, giving the craft its practitioner name, colchandera) and their sewing into the chupalla, Chile's national huaso hat, in Ninhue and neighboring communes of the Itata…

  • Kawésqar and Yagán Junco Basketry (Magallanes)Basketry & Woven Fiber · Endangered

    The extraction of rush stems from the wet swamps of Chile's austral fjords and their weaving into baskets and storage containers, practiced by the Kawésqar and Yagán peoples — canoe-nomad communities historically living among the channels…

  • Rari Crin (Horsehair) Weaving (Maule Region)Basketry & Woven Fiber · Vulnerable

    A technique unique in the world — the concentric weaving of dyed horsehair (crin) combined with a vegetable fiber called Ixtle into small, colorful decorative pieces (butterflies, flowers, bookmarks, and jewelry), practiced almost entirely…

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Ceramics & Pottery

  • Mapuche Wizüfe Pottery (Padre Las Casas, Araucanía)Ceramics & Pottery · Endangered

    Wizüfe, a traditional Mapuche pottery technique of Chile's Araucanía region, whose mastery and public promotion earned ceramist Dominga Neculmán Mariqueo, of the rural village of Roble Huacho, Padre Las Casas, formal recognition as a…

  • Pomaire Greda Terracotta Pottery (Metropolitan Region)Ceramics & Pottery · Vulnerable

    The shaping of greda — a distinctive rose-tinted, unglazed clay — into cookware, tableware, and figurative pieces in Pomaire, a village roughly 60 km west of Santiago whose surrounding hills have supplied potters' raw material since before…

  • Quinchamalí and Santa Cruz de Cuca Black Pottery (Ñuble Region)Ceramics & Pottery · Vulnerable

    The hand-modeling, needle-incising, and smoke-firing of black earthenware — pots, fountains, tableware, and figurines depicting the peasant landscape and its characters, above all the guitarrera (a countrywoman singer holding a guitar) —…

  • Talagante Polychrome Figurative Pottery (Metropolitan Region)Ceramics & Pottery · Vulnerable

    The hand-modeling and vivid polychrome painting of clay into figures drawn from Chilean popular and religious culture, a colonial-era tradition of Talagante, a rural town in Chile's Metropolitan Region, born from the ceramic practice of…

All ceramics & pottery techniques worldwide →

Embroidery & Lace

  • Arpillera Appliqué Testimony Textiles (Santiago)Embroidery & Lace · Vulnerable

    A brightly colored appliqué patchwork technique — fabric scraps cut from old clothing sewn onto a rectangle of burlap or sacking, roughly the size of a cafeteria tray, sometimes finished with three-dimensional embroidered or crocheted…

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Boatbuilding & Maritime

All boatbuilding & maritime techniques worldwide →

Stone & Gemstone Carving

  • Combarbalita Stone Carving (Coquimbo Region)Stone & Gemstone Carving · Vulnerable

    The hand-carving and lathe-turning of combarbalita, a multicolored ornamental kaolinite mineral found nowhere else on Earth, mined no more than ten meters below ground near the town of Combarbalá, Limarí Province, Coquimbo Region.

All stone & gemstone carving techniques worldwide →

Weaving & Textiles

  • Doñihue Chamanto Double-Faced Weaving (O'Higgins Region)Weaving & Textiles · Vulnerable

    The weaving of the chamanto — a reversible, rectangular poncho-like garment with a central head-opening, fully finished on both sides with no raw edges, worn as the gala complement of the Chilean huaso (cowboy) — on a loom found nowhere…

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Woodwork & Carving

  • Rapa Nui Moai Kavakava Wood Carving (Easter Island)Woodwork & Carving · Critically Endangered

    The carving of moai kavakava — small, portable wooden figures depicting standing, emaciated male ancestors or spirits with prominently exposed ribs, elongated limbs and earlobes, and intensely carved facial expressions — a wood-sculpture…

All woodwork & carving techniques worldwide →