Handicrafts

Artistic productions including handmade crafts are very potent cultural representatives, particularly for countries with ancient civilizations. Iran owns an enormous wealth of traditional masterpieces remained from old, middle, and modern arenas. The geographical location of Iran, bridging west to the east, along with the country’s long history of trade with other countries such as China and India, has contributed to the huge diversity of arts and crafts displayed in the country’s museums. Furthermore, the contemporary crafts, beside artistic and decorative aspects, offer functional utilities for people, which can be found in traditional bazaars in full variety.

Handicrafts refer to products of art and industry which mainly rely on indigenous and traditional specialties and, independent from high technologies, are generally created by hand, using local raw materials and hand tools which can be either in a studio or simply at home; handicrafts have had both artistic and functional characteristics and have been generally called as “art-industry”. The most famous Iranian traditional handicrafts include drawing, miniature paintings, calligraphy, gilding, carving, engraving, pottery, carpet waving, and tiling.