Argentina · Graded rawhide treatment, plaiting, and mounted-goods leatherwork
Cuero Crudo Entrerriano
The graded treatment and working of raw horsehide into knives, rebenques (riding crops), tientos (fine plaiting cords), saddle components, and mounted-goods (mates, bottles, bags) in rural Entre Ríos province, part of Argentina's Litoral 'Civilización del Cuero' (Leather Civilization) cultural zone. The province formally recognizes the craft as Intangible Cultural Heritage, specifically transmitted master to apprentice within rural communities. Argentine rawhide work follows a graded three-stage treatment system — crudo (raw, simply dried), sobado (worked/rubbed), and redomón (the longest and most elaborate treatment, producing the most elastic material, reserved for lassos and braiding cords) — with piece value directly tied to the number and complexity of tientos (fine cut cords) used in plaiting. The Museo y Mercado de Artesanías Carlos Asiain, Entre Ríos's dedicated provincial institution, has earned national recognition including the Sociedad Rural Argentina Prize (1979) and Diploma of Honor for Best Official Argentine Representation (1999) for its documentation and promotion of the craft.
Risk level: Vulnerable · Not Applicable — no UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage inscription exists for this craft at time of writing, though it is formally documented and designated Intangible Cultural Heritage through Argentina's own domestic provincial framework
The gathering, fire-preparing, and weaving of taiu — a long native grass fiber — into baskets by the Selk'nam (also Ona), an indigenous people of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina's and the world's southernmost inhabited region, using a coiling…
The gathering and plaited weaving of native plant fibers — including capiatí, pirurí, pita (an agave-family fiber comparable to Mexican maguey/sisal), coconut fiber, and raffia — into baskets by the Mbyá-Guaraní people of Misiones province…
The stitching and painting of quillangos (also called kai or, before painting, hapercó) — cloaks made from three to four guanaco skins, preferably from chulengos (young guanacos) — by Tehuelche women of Patagonia, collectively assembling…
Two formally recognized traditional crafts of Mendoza province's arid Cuyo region, both designated intangible cultural heritage of the province: junquillo (rush) basketry, practiced since ancestral times by the Huarpe people around the…
The harvesting, hand-processing, spinning, dyeing, and net-weaving of chaguar (Bromelia hieronymi), a spiny wild bromeliad native to the semi-arid forests of the Gran Chaco, into fishing nets, clothing, small bags (yikas), and —…
The forging, tempering, and finishing of criollo knives — light yet intensively durable blades descended directly from the gaucho facón — in Tandil, Buenos Aires province, a city whose knife-making tradition draws on the ancient Tandilia…
Hand-stitched, richly silk-embroidered red leather bridal slippers made in the oasis city of Ghadames in Libya's pre-Saharan west.
Multan's camel skin craft produces the luminous translucent vessels — lamps, trays, vases — made from tanned camel hide so thin that candlelight or electric light passes through it, illuminating the painted surface from within.
The tanning, copper-oxide dyeing, and Tifinagh-inspired decorative working of goat and camel leather into distinctive Tuareg objects, principally the taghallabt (a wallet-form container) and the aghreg (a travel bag), produced in Algeria's…
The making of cotizas — sandals fitted with pieces of animal leather tied to the feet — worn by the parranderos of the Parranda de San Pedro, a UNESCO-inscribed (2013) Afro-Venezuelan religious festival celebrated each 29 June in Guarenas…
The hand-tooled saddle and full tack set (apero) built specifically for the Caballo Peruano de Paso, Peru's distinctive lateral-gaited horse breed, by dedicated talabarterías (saddlery workshops) that supply riders (chalanes) with…
The making of fine leather gloves in the Paris tradition — cut from peau de chevreau (kid leather) or peau de porc (pigskin) in a single piece per hand, stretched over a wooden glove form, and hand-sewn with a specific saddle stitch.