Kyrgyzstan · Wood Carving / Architectural Craft
Кермé (Kerme)
Kerme (Кермé) refers to the carved wooden elements of the Kyrgyz yurt interior — primarily the carved storage chest (sandyk), the decorative lattice of the door frame (bosogo), and the carved poles of the upper smoke ring (tunduk). Kyrgyz wood carving uses a specific two-plane relief system: designs are carved to two depths only — full background removal (deep) and surface texture (shallow) — never intermediate depth. 'Two depths, no middle — the eye sees only two planes and the shadow creates the third.' The shadow is the third dimension.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Kyrgyzstan national ICH list
Palas (Палас — flat-woven) and kilem (Килем — pile carpet) are the Kyrgyz woven carpet traditions — distinct from the Uzbek and Turkmen pile carpet traditions in using a strictly symmetric (Turkish/Ghiordes) knot rather than the Persian…
Sebet (Себет — basket) is the willow basketry tradition of the Chuy Valley in northern Kyrgyzstan — distinct from the felt and leather traditions of the southern and mountain regions in being a sedentary river-valley craft producing…
Yak wool spinning (яктын жүнү — yak fiber) is the high-altitude fiber preparation tradition of Kyrgyz communities in the Tian Shan and Pamir ranges above 3,500m — where the domestic yak (Bos grunniens) provides the primary winter fiber.
The making of kookor — the distinctively shaped leather flask used for storing, transporting, and ceremonially serving kumis (fermented mare's milk) — one of the most culturally sacred everyday objects in Kyrgyz nomadic material culture,…
Chiy (Чий — Stipa capillata or Phragmites australis) is the reed screen tradition of Kyrgyz nomadic culture — producing the large woven reed mats that form the outer wind-break layer of the yurt, placed between the yurt's wooden lattice…
The narrow-band weaving of boo — patterned woven straps woven on a simple portable ground loom called an ormok, used to bind and structurally secure every major component of the Kyrgyz yurt (kerege lattice walls, door frame, roof poles,…
The Dala horse (Dalahäst) carving and painting tradition of Nusnäs in Dalarna — the making of the distinctive Swedish wooden horse carved from pine and painted in the characteristic Kurbits folk floral motifs that has become Sweden's most…
The wood carving tradition of the Black Forest — producing the characteristic carved figurines, reliefs, and decorative objects whose subject vocabulary (hunters, Black Forest farmers, animals of the forest, religious figures) is closely…
The Sámi birchwood spoon and kåsa (drinking cup) carving tradition — the making of the specific wooden spoons and cups from the root burls and twisted branches of the Arctic birch (fjällbjörk) that is the defining Sámi wood craft alongside…
An engraving technique of the Kali'na people of Awala-Yalimapo, French Guiana's foremost Amerindian cultural center, in which symbolic motifs are incised onto the dried calabash gourd using an improvised tool made from a modified fork.
Mandalay Buddhist temple woodcarving (မြောက်တပ် hmyaw tat) is the architectural relief carving tradition decorating Myanmar's wooden Buddhist temples, monasteries (kyaung), and royal pavilions in teak, ironwood, and pyinkado (Xylia…
The Danish horn working tradition — the making of functional and decorative objects from animal horn (cattle, ox, and aurochs horn) that spans from the Bronze Age Lurs (the twin curved bronze horns) through Viking Age drinking vessels to…