The world, through craft

Crafts act as cultural fingerprints, ranging from functional daily objects to decorative pieces that accumulate historical significance. Artisans preserve and adapt traditions to ensure techniques and materials endure amid social and economic change. Lesser-exposed craft movements are gaining attention or being revived across diverse regions. Examples include Okinawa's bingata textiles as symbols of resilience, Bosnia's Konjic woodcarving maintained by local forest resources, and Andaluceda's equestrian-driven leatherwork evolving toward high fashion. Craft-focused experiences offer travelers deeper engagement with places and people through tangible cultural practices.

Like recipes or songs, crafts are the fingerprints of our histories. Some are the byproducts of traditional ways of life, like functional objects designed to be used daily, but also beautiful in their artistry. Others began their lives as purely decorative pieces and, over the years, have evolved into something that holds far greater weight. All are celebrations of the vast scope of human creativity and ingenuity, preserved and shaped by artisans working to ensure their traditions thrive in an ever-changing world.

Yulia Denisyuk travels to Okinawa to visit its bingata textile workshops - a quiet symbol of resilience in a Japanese prefecture that still bears the scars of war. Ashlea Halpern uncovers a similar legacy in Bosnia, but in the form of Konjic woodcarving, a UNESCO-recognised art form that has been passed down through generations, its artisans having never stopped sourcing materials from the same local forest.

Read at CN Traveller