Malaysia · Woodworking / Boat Building
Pembuatan Perahu Payang
The Perahu Payang is the traditional Malay fishing vessel of the Terengganu coast — a double-ended wooden boat with a distinctive high prow and stern, decorated with carved and painted geometric patterns, built entirely by hand using adze and traditional joinery. The tradition is now kept alive by only a few craftspeople in coastal Terengganu villages using hand tools and inherited joinery techniques. Like the Pinisi (CRAFT-0181), the Perahu Payang is built without blueprints — the master builder (tukang perahu) holds the vessel's geometry in embodied spatial memory, transferring measurements through a personal system of body-part proportions and bamboo gauges. Unlike the Pinisi which is primarily a cargo vessel, the Perahu Payang is a fishing boat whose form is optimized for the specific hydrodynamic conditions of the South China Sea and the Terengganu coastal shallow waters.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Not inscribed
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