The Depository · Browse · Asia-Pacific
The Depository documents 72 techniques in Indonesia; by risk level: 23 critically endangered, 45 endangered, 3 vulnerable, 1 thriving. Each record opens with a public summary; the full research record is free to view once registered.
Acehnese Songket is the supplementary weft gold thread weaving tradition of the Acehnese people — producing silk or cotton cloth with raised gold and silver thread patterns in a visual vocabulary reflecting Aceh's position as Indonesia's…
Ulos is the sacred handwoven cloth of the Batak people of North Sumatra — comprising six distinct sub-groups (Toba, Karo, Simalungun, Pakpak/Dairi, Angkola, and Mandailing), each with their own distinct Ulos traditions.
Bugis silk weaving is the plaid and check handwoven silk sarong tradition of the Bugis people of South Sulawesi — one of the most commercially vital and technically accomplished weaving traditions in eastern Indonesia.
Donggala silk is the traditional handwoven silk cloth of Donggala district on the Gulf of Tomini, Central Sulawesi — producing supplementary weft patterned silk in a palette and motif vocabulary reflecting the area's blend of Bugis, Kaili,…
The Ende and Lio people of central Flores produce warp ikat textiles of extraordinary diversity — each village having its own distinct pattern vocabulary, color palette, and motif system, producing a textile landscape across Flores that is…
Geringsing is one of only three double ikat textiles in the world — produced exclusively in the Bali Aga (original Balinese) village of Tenganan Pegringsingan in Karangasem district.
Tapis is the ceremonial woven and embroidered cloth of the Lampung people of southernmost Sumatra — one of the most technically complex textiles in Indonesia, combining handwoven cotton ground with supplementary weft patterning, embroidery…
Lurik is the traditional striped and checked handwoven cotton cloth of Java, produced primarily in Klaten district (Central Java) and Yogyakarta.
Minangkabau Songket is the supplementary weft gold and silk thread weaving tradition of the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra — considered by many Indonesian textile scholars to be the most technically sophisticated songket tradition in…
Salele is the traditional supplementary weft patterned cotton cloth of the North Maluku Sultanates — Ternate and Tidore — produced for royal ceremony and aristocratic dress in a tradition directly linked to the global spice trade economy…
Palembang Songket is the supplementary weft gold thread weaving tradition of Palembang, the historic capital of the Srivijaya maritime empire — and one of the most commercially sophisticated songket traditions in Indonesia.
Pua Kumbu is the sacred warp ikat cloth of the Iban Dayak people — one of the most powerful ritual textiles in Borneo and among the most technically and spiritually complex in Southeast Asia.
Sarung Samarinda is the handwoven cotton sarong tradition of Samarinda, the capital of East Kalimantan — distinguished by its bold plaid and check patterns in bright, contrasting colors on a silk or cotton ground.
Sasak Songket is the supplementary weft gold and silk thread weaving tradition of the Sasak people of Lombok — producing lustrous cloth with raised gold or silver thread patterns on a silk or cotton ground.
Hinggi is the warp-ikat textile of East Sumba — among the most visually powerful and complex textiles in the world.
Tanimbar Ikat is the warp ikat weaving tradition of the Tanimbar Islands (Maluku Tenggara Barat district) — the southernmost significant ikat tradition in the Indonesian archipelago, bridging the Nusa Tenggara and Maluku textile worlds.
Tenun ATBM (Alat Tenun Bukan Mesin — Non-Mechanized Loom) is the category term for Java's handloom weaving traditions outside the batik system — producing plain, striped, checked, and supplementary-weft patterned cloth in silk, cotton, or…
Tenun Siak is the traditional Malay weaving tradition of the Siak Sultanate area in Riau province — producing supplementary weft patterned silk cloth in a palette and motif vocabulary reflecting Riau's Malay Islamic cultural identity and…
Tais is the warp ikat cloth of the Timorese people — produced across both West Timor (Indonesia) and Timor-Leste (East Timor), making it a rare trans-national craft tradition in the database.
Kain Leja is the traditional handwoven ikat cloth of the Tolaki people of Southeast Sulawesi — the indigenous community of the Kendari area.
The Sa'dan Toraja people of the Tana Toraja highlands produce a distinct handwoven textile tradition on body-tension loin-looms — using warp ikat patterning in a palette of deep red (morinda), black (indigo overdye), and cream on cotton…
Ulap Doyo is one of the most unusual textiles in the database — a handwoven cloth produced entirely from the fiber of the Doyo plant (Curculigo latifolia), a wild plant of the Kalimantan rainforest floor.
The Rencong is the traditional asymmetric dagger of the Acehnese people — one of the most distinctive bladed objects in Southeast Asia, characterized by its pistol-grip curve at the handle-blade junction, its forward-angled blade, and the…
Celuk village in Gianyar district is the hereditary silver and gold smithing center of Bali, producing jewelry and decorative objects using filigree (twisted wire), granulation, repoussé, and casting techniques.
Banjar goldwork is the traditional goldsmithing tradition of the Banjar people of South Kalimantan — producing jewelry of extraordinary delicacy using granulation, filigree, and repoussé techniques in fine gold (22–24 karat).
The indigenous communities of Central Sulawesi's highland interior — particularly the Kulawi, Pamona, and Napu peoples of Poso district — produce a tradition of ritual ornament using glass trade beads, freshwater and marine shells, animal…
The Mandau is the traditional long-bladed weapon of the Dayak peoples of Kalimantan — a single-edged slashing blade 50–70cm long with a characteristic gentle curve, made from iron or steel, with a handle of carved deer antler or hornbill…
The keris is the asymmetrical dagger of the Indonesian archipelago — one of the world's most technically complex bladed objects, inscribed by UNESCO in 2008.
Koto Gadang village in Agam district is the hereditary silver filigree center of West Sumatra — producing delicate wire-work jewelry and decorative objects that have been exported since the colonial period, when Dutch colonial officials…
Makassar goldsmithing and silverwork is the hereditary jewelry tradition of the Makassarese people — the other major ethnic group of South Sulawesi alongside the Bugis — producing filigree, granulation, and repoussé work for ceremonial…
The Maluku archipelago — historically the source of the world's most prized nautilus shells, golden cowries, and giant clams — has developed a tradition of shell working that is unique in its material richness.
The traditional ceremonial headdress of highland Papua incorporates the plumage of the Birds of Paradise (Paradisaeidae) — one of the world's most spectacular groups of birds, endemic to New Guinea.
Batik Cap is the stamp-printed variant of Indonesian batik, using hand-made copper stamps (cap) to apply wax to cloth in a repeated pattern, replacing the freehand canting of Batik Tulis.
Batik Fractal is a contemporary innovation originating from Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) that uses fractal mathematics and computational design tools to generate new batik patterns — specifically patterns that replicate the…
Batik Pesisir (coastal batik) encompasses the distinct batik traditions of Java's north coast trading cities — Pekalongan, Cirebon, Lasem, Tuban, and Madura — which developed differently from the refined court batik of Yogyakarta and Solo.
Batik Tulis is the most refined form of Indonesian batik — a wax-resist dyeing technique in which hot liquid wax is applied freehand to cloth using a canting (a small copper-spouted tool) to draw fine lines and dots that resist the dye.
Hand-drawn wax-resist batik made not on imported cloth but on silk that is hand-spun and hand-woven in Indonesia for the purpose, so that one workshop controls the whole chain from yarn to finished design.
Kain Jumputan is the silk tie-dye tradition of Palembang — produced on fine silk or georgette by gathering and binding small sections of cloth with thread before dye immersion, then unbinding to reveal the characteristic circular resist…
Sasirangan is the traditional stitch-resist dyed cloth of the Banjar people of South Kalimantan — distinct from tie-dye (Jumputan) in that the resist is created by running-stitch gathering along sewn lines (not tied binding), producing the…
Kalimantan is one of the world's richest sources of natural rattan — Calamus species form dense undergrowth across Borneo's rainforest floor.
The Lontar palm (Borassus flabellifer) is the foundation of material culture across Nusa Tenggara, Bali, and parts of Java — its leaves, fruit, sap, trunk, and root each serving distinct craft purposes.
The Minahasa people of North Sulawesi — a Christian community with a distinct cultural identity from the predominantly Muslim Sulawesi mainland — produce a range of bamboo and wood craft traditions centered in Tomohon city and the…
Noken is the knotted fiber net bag of the Papuan highlands — inscribed by UNESCO in 2012 as an Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.
Sago palm (Metroxylon sagu) is the foundation of life in lowland Papua — simultaneously the primary food source (sago starch), the primary building material (leaf for thatching, trunk for flooring), and the source of a range of craft…
The islands and coastal communities of Southeast Sulawesi — particularly Muna Island, Buton Island, and the Kolaka mainland area — produce a range of pandanus and rattan woven goods: sleeping mats (tikar), storage baskets, prayer mats, and…
The Tidung people of North Kalimantan — Indonesia's newest province, established in 2012 — produce a tradition of pandanus (pandan) leaf mat weaving and basketry that serves both daily domestic functions and ceremonial purposes.
Asmat woodcarving is among the most celebrated indigenous art traditions in the world — produced by the Asmat people of the southwestern Papua coast, a community whose artistic output has been collected by international museums since the…
Gorga is the traditional wood carving and painting tradition of the Toba Batak — applied to the exterior and interior of the rumah adat (traditional house) and sopo (rice barn) in complex geometric and zoomorphic relief patterns painted in…
Dayak woodcarving encompasses a range of ritual and domestic carving traditions across the Dayak peoples of Kalimantan, but the most distinctive and most endangered is the Sapundu — the carved human-figure post used in the Tiwah ceremony…
The Kamoro people of the Mimika district coastal lowlands — neighbors and cultural relatives of the Asmat — produce a distinct woodcarving tradition centered on the wemawe (ancestor spirit pole) and the karapao (feast board).
The Rumah Gadang (Big House) of the Minangkabau — with its dramatically curved roof rising at both ends into buffalo-horn points — is the most architecturally distinctive traditional structure in Sumatra and among the most remarkable in…
Pa'ukir is the traditional woodcarving tradition of the Sa'dan Toraja — applied to the exterior of the tongkonan (ancestral house) and alang (rice barn) in bands of interlocking geometric and figurative relief carved in the iconic Torajan…
The Bajo (Bajau) people are the sea nomads of Southeast Asia — historically living entirely at sea on their vessels, touching land only for fresh water, trading, and burial.
The Kora-Kora is the traditional multi-oared war and ceremonial canoe of the Maluku (Moluccas) archipelago — historically the primary naval vessel of the Maluku Sultanates and the instrument of the spice trade wars that shaped global…
The Pinisi is the traditional two-masted sailing vessel of the Bugis and Makassarese people — one of the most iconic watercraft in Southeast Asia and the primary vehicle of the Bugis maritime trading network that connected Sulawesi to…
Handmade paper formed from the pseudostems (the 'trunks') of banana plants that have already fruited, developed in Bali from 1998 for interiors rather than writing.
A writing and ceremonial material made by beating the inner bark of the paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera) rather than by forming a sheet from pulp, which places it closer to tapa and barkcloth than to true paper.
Vessels, translucent wall panels, lamps, table surfaces and framed images made from plant fibers formed in water (banana, waru and gamal, chosen according to the piece), related in principle to the Asian practice of forming a sheet from…
Gerabah is the traditional unglazed earthenware pottery tradition of Java, with Kasongan village in Bantul district, Yogyakarta, as the primary and most celebrated center.
Karo Batak pottery is the traditional earthenware tradition of the Karo sub-group of the Batak people — distinct from the Toba Batak in language, adat, and material culture.
Lombok has three major pottery villages — Banyumulek (West Lombok), Penujak (Central Lombok), and Masbagik Timur (East Lombok) — each with a distinct technique and aesthetic tradition.
Topeng (mask) carving is the tradition of making wooden performance masks for the topeng dance-drama traditions of Java and Bali.
Wayang Golek are the three-dimensional wooden rod puppets of the Sundanese people of West Java — distinct from the flat leather Wayang Kulit of Central Java.
Wayang Kulit are the intricately pierced and painted leather shadow puppets of Java and Bali, used in the wayang kulit shadow theater tradition inscribed by UNESCO in 2003 (Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage).
The Angklung is the traditional Sundanese bamboo musical instrument — a set of tuned bamboo tubes mounted in a frame, producing a specific pitch when shaken.
Gamelan is the bronze percussion orchestra of Java and Bali — inscribed by UNESCO in 2021 — comprising gongs, metallophones (gender, saron, bonang), drums, and other instruments.
Perada painting (also known as Kamasan style, from the village of Kamasan in Klungkung district) is the classical narrative painting tradition of Bali, producing two-dimensional works on cloth or bark paper depicting scenes from the…
Sentani bark cloth painting is the decorative and ritual art tradition of the Sentani people of Lake Sentani, near Jayapura in Papua.
Dayak beadwork is one of the most technically demanding and visually spectacular jewelry and textile traditions in Borneo — producing baby carriers (ba), hats, jackets, skirts, belts, and ceremonial objects entirely covered in glass and…
Karawo is the traditional drawn-thread embroidery tradition of Gorontalo province — a technique in which specific warp and weft threads are withdrawn from a woven ground cloth to create an open grid of remaining threads, into which colored…
The Bade is the multi-tiered ceremonial tower constructed for Balinese Hindu cremation ceremonies (Ngaben) — the most elaborate temporary ritual structure in any documented craft tradition.
Canang and Gebogan are the daily and ceremonial offerings of Balinese Hindu practice — among the most pervasive and technically demanding daily craft traditions in the world.