France · Water craft; Thermal heritage; Auvergne heritage
Gestion des Sources Minérales de Vichy
The management of the volcanic mineral water sources of Vichy — the thermal capital of France — including the maintenance of the source galleries; the seasonal collection of specific waters from different springs (each with distinct mineral composition); and the management of the jaillissement (natural upwelling) pressure. The source manager reads the water character by daily nose and taste assessment of each source, monitoring seasonal mineral variation.
Risk level: Stable · Not listed; Vichy is a candidate for UNESCO World Heritage status (Grandes Villes d'Eaux d'Europe)
The hand-cutting, hand-stitching, and finishing of fine leather goods in France, centered on le point sellier (the saddle stitch) — a technique dating to the 13th century, developed originally for saddle-making, in which two needles share…
The making of needle lace in the Point de France tradition — the French royal lace established by Colbert in 1665 to replace Venetian lace imports and sustain the French state finances.
The tradition of the Paris haute couture embroidery house — the maison de broderie that maintains archives of historical stitch techniques and materials; develops new embroidery for each couture season; and trains the brodeurs who execute…
The making of luxury fans — the assembly of the monture (fan sticks, in ivory, mother-of-pearl, tortoiseshell, or wood) with the feuille (fan leaf, in paper; silk; or lace) in the Paris tradition.
The daily hand-shaping and baking of the baguette, France's iconic long, crusty loaf made from only four ingredients — wheat flour, water, salt, and leaven or yeast — through a precise sequence of weighing, mixing, kneading, fermentation,…
The seasonal transhumance of Aubrac cattle between winter lowland farms and summer pastures on the Aubrac plateau (1,000–1,400 meters).
A narrative painted-wood-plank tradition from Sarhua, Víctor Fajardo province, Ayacucho, in which relatives and godparents gift a family newly finishing a house with a two-to-three-meter wooden board painted with the household's genealogy,…
Construction of decorative parasols from a bamboo spoke-and-pole framework covered with mulberry paper (saa paper) or cotton cloth, then hand-painted with northern Thai floral and nature motifs.
Carving of fruits and vegetables into elaborate decorative sculptures using a single specialized knife, producing floral, bird, and mythological figures for royal court table presentation, Buddhist offerings, and ceremonial display.
Kashmir Papier-Mâché (kar-i-qalamdani) is a craft of Persian-Central Asian origin in which objects are formed from layers of paper pulp, chalk, and glue, then painted with extraordinarily fine miniature designs in lacquer-based pigments.
The specialized knowledge and manual skill of measuring, calculating, and equitably distributing underground water shares drawn from foggaras — gently sloped underground galleries that tap aquifer water and channel it by gravity to Saharan…
A self-invented sculptural technique, developed and copyrighted by Tarija artisan Ruth Mercado since 2002, that builds miniature figures of rural chapaco men and women — depicted farming, making music, tending children — entirely from…