Ceramica Laziale / Maiolica di Viterbo e Civita Castellana
A tradition of tin-glazed earthenware from the volcanic landscape north of Rome — Viterbo, Civita Castellana, and the Monti Cimini area — producing maiolica that reflects the region's Etruscan, Roman, and Renaissance ceramic heritage, including the distinctive Renaissance grotesque decoration style associated with the nearby Vatican and with the Farnese court at Caprarola.
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The historically all-female Venetian trade of stringing loose Murano glass beads (conterie) into saleable strands, using 24-30 long needles worked simultaneously from a bead-filled tray held in the lap — a distinct craft from the lampwork…
The weaving of baskets, mats, and household containers in Puglia's Salento peninsula from olive-tree twigs and rushes (giunco) — materials so abundant that most modern olive-pruning waste is now simply burned rather than woven — in which…
The hand-carving of pietra leccese, a fine-grained golden limestone unique to a small area of the Salento peninsula in Puglia, quarried from Miocene-era marine sediment rich in calcium carbonate and microfossils — a stone so soft when…
The hand-thrown and hand-painted pottery of Grottaglie, in Puglia's Taranto province, produced across two historically distinct traditions — caposanara (or ruagnara), utilitarian ware such as amphorae, kitchen vessels, and giant…
An extraordinarily fine needle lace made on the island of Burano using a single needle and thread to construct fabric from nothing but air and knot — no ground fabric, no bobbin, no mechanical support.
A silk velvet woven on a hand drawloom in which pile is created by supplementary warp threads lifted over fine steel rods (verghe) and cut, with voided or brocaded areas producing complex figured patterns of extraordinary optical depth.
Athangudi tiles are handmade decorative cement floor tiles produced in Athangudi village in the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu, developed in the late 19th century by the Nattukotai Chettiar trading community to ornament their extraordinary…
Jōyachi (上焼, 'upper/fine-fired ware') is the glazed, decorated branch of Tsuboya ware in Naha, Okinawa: slip-covered tableware, sake vessels and vases painted, carved and glazed with natural stone-and-coral glazes.
Arayachi (荒焼, 'rough-fired ware') is the unglazed branch of Tsuboya ware, Okinawa's principal pottery tradition — the stoneware of storage: great water jars, awamori and miso jars, and many shisa guardian lions.
Longquan celadon is a jade-green glazed stoneware tradition from Longquan city, Zhejiang province — inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List in 2009 and considered one of the supreme achievements in world ceramics.
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) —…
Hand-painted earthenware dolls and whistles made in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, by pressing red-earth-and-sand clay into molds, bisque-firing at about 800 °C and painting by hand over a white ground in yellow, purple and red.