Indonesia · Basketry / Woven Mat
Kerajinan Pandan dan Rotan Sulawesi Tenggara
The islands and coastal communities of Southeast Sulawesi — particularly Muna Island, Buton Island, and the Kolaka mainland area — produce a range of pandanus and rattan woven goods: sleeping mats (tikar), storage baskets, prayer mats, and the distinctive Muna Island kepala tikar (headpiece mat) used in Muna adat ceremonies. The Muna Island mat tradition is particularly notable for its intricate woven geometric patterns in natural pandanus color combined with dyed black strips — producing a sophisticated two-color woven pattern without any embroidery or supplementary technique. The pattern is entirely structural, arising from the interlacing sequence. Muna Island also produces the kalembe (woven storage container) from locally harvested pandanus and rattan — a functional craft that is the primary container technology of the island.
Risk level: Endangered · Not inscribed
Handmade paper formed from the pseudostems (the 'trunks') of banana plants that have already fruited, developed in Bali from 1998 for interiors rather than writing.
A writing and ceremonial material made by beating the inner bark of the paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera) rather than by forming a sheet from pulp, which places it closer to tapa and barkcloth than to true paper.
The Pinisi is the traditional two-masted sailing vessel of the Bugis and Makassarese people — one of the most iconic watercraft in Southeast Asia and the primary vehicle of the Bugis maritime trading network that connected Sulawesi to…
Tais is the warp ikat cloth of the Timorese people — produced across both West Timor (Indonesia) and Timor-Leste (East Timor), making it a rare trans-national craft tradition in the database.
Makassar goldsmithing and silverwork is the hereditary jewelry tradition of the Makassarese people — the other major ethnic group of South Sulawesi alongside the Bugis — producing filigree, granulation, and repoussé work for ceremonial…
The Lontar palm (Borassus flabellifer) is the foundation of material culture across Nusa Tenggara, Bali, and parts of Java — its leaves, fruit, sap, trunk, and root each serving distinct craft purposes.
The hand-knotting of wool and silk carpets on vertical looms, a Persian craft tradition regarded as an object of high artistic and utilitarian value since it was first mentioned by ancient Greek writers, continuing largely unchanged for…
The Kiribati pandanus weaving tradition (te bwai ni katei — the thing of the culture) — the production of the distinctive I-Kiribati woven pandanus mats and baskets whose specific plaiting technique and the atoll pandanus leaf quality…
A distinctive rattan and cane basketry tradition woven over a wooden mold with a solid turned wood base, developed by bored crewmen stationed for weeks at a time aboard the Nantucket Shoals lightship from the mid-19th century, later…
The making of baskets and furniture from Galician willow (Salix viminalis — vimbio in Galician) in the tradition centered on O Carballiño and the Ribeiro do Avia valley — the primary Galician wickerwork tradition, distinct from Catalan…
The bilum (string bag) of Papua New Guinea is the most widely used object in PNG culture — carried by women from the Highlands to the coast, used for babies, produce, possessions, and ceremony.
Magimagi is the Fijian braided coconut fiber cord that binds the structural elements of traditional Fijian bure (thatched house) and the lashings of traditional drua canoes.