Margoum (also mergoum)
A lightweight woven carpet technique unique to Tunisia, positioned technically between a classic knotted pile carpet and a plain woven kilim, produced through a weft-substitution flatweave method inherited by Berber tribes of southern Tunisia (Tataouine, Medenine, Gabes, Gafsa) and centered specifically on the town of Oudref in Gabès governorate, considered the margoum's capital. Multiple independent sources state plainly that this carpet does not exist anywhere else in the world. Women weavers, trained in the craft from early childhood, execute the full production sequence by hand — shearing, sorting, cleaning, and weaving — with motifs shared across the same visual vocabulary found in regional jewelry and tattoo design.
Risk level: Endangered · Not independently inscribed
The hand-weaving of palm leaves into baskets, hats, mats, and cordage by artisans of Djerba, a small Mediterranean island off Tunisia's coast, dotted throughout with palm trees that supply the craft's raw material.
The manual, entirely hand-performed pollination of date palms in Tunisia's southern oases, centered on the Djerid region (Tozeur, Kebili) and the historic heartland of the prized Deglet Nour variety.
The hand-engraving of copper, silver, and gold into jewelry, household objects, and decorative pieces in the souks of the Tunis medina, tracing roots to Carthaginian craft practice and shaped by centuries of Islamic, Mediterranean,…
The entirely hand-built (wheel-less) production of terracotta pottery — cooking utensils, dolls, and environment-inspired animal figurines — by Berber women of Sejnane, a village in the green hills of northern Tunisia's Bizerte governorate.
The preparation of harissa, Tunisia's national chili paste condiment, by sun-drying Baklouti red peppers, deseeding and grinding them, and seasoning the resulting paste with salt, garlic, and coriander using a pestle and mortar or manual…
Wheel-thrown terracotta pottery produced in Guellala, a village on the southern coast of Djerba island built directly atop rich clay deposits.
The hand-spinning and loom-weaving of locally grown cotton into cloth, historically practiced across most communities of The Gambia's Upper River Region, where cotton served as the principal regional cash crop.
The collection and stitch-knitting of bamboo sticks into beds, chairs, stools, and brooms, practiced in the community of Majumba, The Gambia, and formally documented as one of six inventoried elements from the Central River Region in The…
A tradition of basket and hat weaving from the coastal and inland areas of Lazio — using rush, straw, and willow from the Pontine plain, the Tiber valley, and the coastal marshes — producing domestic baskets, hats, and decorative objects…
The coiled and flat-strip weaving of storage and carrying baskets by Burundian women, historically among Tutsi households and today across Burundian communities broadly, using natural fibers including papyrus, banana bark, sisal,…
The hand-spinning, dyeing, and narrow-strip weaving of thick cotton cloth by Gola, Lorma (Loma), Kpelle, Vai, and related peoples of Liberia, using the distinctive tripod loom found almost exclusively in Liberia and neighboring Sierra…
Sichuan bamboo weaving (四川竹编) encompasses both utilitarian basketry and an extraordinary fine-art tradition: weaving silk-thin bamboo strips over ceramic or glass forms to create a fitted bamboo skin so fine it is translucent — the ceramic…