France · Stone craft; Vernacular architecture; Loire heritage
Construction Troglodytique de la Loire
Excavation and fitting-out of habitable spaces carved directly into the Loire Valley's tuffeau cliffs. Troglodyte dwellings — inhabited from medieval times through the 20th century — are carved from the same soft tuffeau stone as the châteaux above them, creating a complete material culture from the cliff face.
Risk level: Endangered · Not listed; Loire Valley UNESCO World Heritage (2000) includes troglodyte sites
The embroidery of silk fabric — primarily the tambour stitch (crochet de Lunéville) technique used to apply sequins, beads, and silk thread to silk ground fabric for haute couture.
The finishing of woven and printed Lyon silk fabric — including calendering (passing through heated rollers to produce luster); decatizing (steam pressing to stabilize dimensions); and historically silk weighting (adding metallic salts to…
The flat-table screen printing of silk fabric in Lyon — a tradition that developed alongside weaving as an alternative and complementary method of decorating silk.
The drying and grinding of piment d'Espelette — the mild Basque chilli (Capsicum annuum var.
The preparation of silk warp on the ourdissoir (warping drum or frame) before threading the loom — the first step in producing Lyon silk fabric.
The selection; dyeing; cutting; and assembly of feathers for haute couture — the Paris plumassier tradition that supplies the feather accessories for biannual couture collections and for theatrical costume.
Gong deng (宮燈 — 'palace lantern') is the Beijing court lantern tradition brought to Taiwan by mainland craftspeople in 1949 — now more actively practiced in Taiwan than the Beijing tradition it descended from.
The annual, citywide hand-replastering of the Great Mosque of Djenné, the world's largest mud-brick building, by the entire community of Djenné under the direction of the Barey-Ton (masons' guild), an ancient institution that transmits its…
The construction of the benab, a monumental conical communal meeting structure built entirely without nails or metal fasteners, using wallaba wood posts lashed together with natural rainforest vine cordage and thatched with palm leaves.
A trio of traditional earthen building techniques — bahareque (a woven mud, wood, and cane/bamboo wattle-and-daub system), adobe (sun-dried mud brick), and tapia (rammed earth) — that together define the historic architecture of Coro,…
The nón lá is Vietnam's most iconic cultural symbol — the conical palm leaf hat worn by farmers, women, and children as sun and rain protection across the country.
Wau Bulan is the traditional crescent moon-shaped kite of Kelantan — the most celebrated kite form in Malaysia and the country's national symbol, depicted on the Malaysian 50-sen coin.