Pakistan · Stone Carving / Mineral Craft
عقیق تراشی (Aqeeq Tarashi)
Balochistan contains Pakistan's primary onyx deposits — a banded green-white translucent stone distinct from the black Western onyx and the yellow Afghan onyx — quarried near Quetta and carved into decorative objects, vessels, and chess sets by a tradition of specialist carvers. The Balochistan onyx is notable for its strong banding — alternating translucent white and opaque green bands that run through the stone and must be oriented by the carver to achieve specific visual effects. The defining technical knowledge is the band orientation reading: before any cut, the carver holds the block to light and reads the band direction — 'the bands tell me which way to cut; I cut with the bands, never across.' Cutting across bands produces a mottled rather than a clean banded surface.
Risk level: Endangered · Pakistan national ICH list
The engraving, repoussé, and decorative working of brass and copper into household utensils, trays, lamps, and ornamental vessels, centered on Peshawar's historic Misgaran Bazaar ('bazaar of brass workers,' from misgar, the Hindko-language…
The hand-stitched making of khussa — the flat-soled, often pointed-toe, heelless slip-on leather shoe considered one of Pakistan's most culturally iconic footwear traditions, closing a genuine gap in the archive: no footwear-making craft…
Kashi (کاشی — named from Kashan, Iran, the origin of the technique) is Multan's blue and white glazed tile tradition — one of the oldest continuously active tilework traditions in the world, with families in Multan's tile district tracing…
Ajrak (اجرک) is the Sindhi resist-print and natural dye tradition — producing the deep red and indigo blue geometric pattern cloth that is the defining textile of Sindhi identity.
Patti (پٹی) is the narrow-band woven textile tradition of the Swat Valley and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Pashtun communities — producing the narrow striped woolen bands used as belts, bag straps, and decorative borders on Pashtun garments and…
The Wakhi people of the Ishkoman, Yasin, and Ghizer valleys of Gilgit-Baltistan province weave a distinctive wool carpet at altitudes above 3,000m — one of the northernmost active carpet traditions in South Asia.
Small hand-carved stone animal figures, often finished with an inlaid 'heartline' running from mouth to heart and sometimes an offering bundle, carved to hold and channel the spirit of the depicted animal for protection, healing, or…
The inlaying of cut and polished semi-precious stones into white marble to form floral and geometric patterns, developed under the Mughal emperors and made famous by the Taj Mahal (built 1631–1648).
The setting of small, precisely cut pieces of turquoise gemstone in mosaic fashion onto copper, brass, silver, nickel, or bronze vessels and jewelry, a relatively young Iranian art form with a documented history of roughly fifty to seventy…
Mandalay marble Buddha carving (ကျောက်ဆစ် kyaukse) is the sculptural tradition centered in the Sagyin and Kyaukse districts north of Mandalay — using white Sagyin marble to produce Buddha images in the Mandalay style: seated in meditation…
Parzo (སྤར་བཟོ — 'slate craft') is the Bhutanese tradition of carving Buddhist mantras, images, and decorative motifs into slate and black stone — producing the mani stones placed at mountain passes, monastery walls, and river confluences…
The quarrying, cutting, and carving of onyx marble into decorative and functional objects — candle holders, ashtrays, bookends, animal figures, table lamps, and jewelry — centered in La Toma, San Luis province, where the craft is…