The Kyrgyz komuz is a national musical instrument. Traditionally, komuz was made from a single piece of wood. The instrument has three strings, which were traditionally made from dried ram innards, but in modern times, fishing lines are often used instead.

The art of embroidery is one of the ancient traditions of applied and decorative arts in Central Asia. The uniqueness and beauty of Central Asian embroidery, the abundance and diversity of its ornaments and techniques testify to the rich traditions of this art. Embroidery is widespread mainly in trade and handicraft cities and large villages along the Silk Roads in Central Asia. Each existing traditional schools have a unique symbol, style and color balance based on local knowledge and social practices.\n\nEmbroidery is common activity among women in Central Asia. Traditionally, women and girls embroider individually and in groups. Embroidery is passed down from generation to generation, mainly from mother to daughter, in the form of master-apprentice schools. Indigenous population in Central Asia wear embroidered items, it serves as a symbol of their devotion to their homeland and culture. It is especially found at craft fairs, festivals, contests, weddings and social festivities.\n\nNetworking on elaboration of the multinational nomination “The Art of Embroidery” in Central Asia was initiated by the NGO “Living Heritage” of Uzbekistan (“Umrboqiy Meros”) in May 2019. Main objectives of the networking were to strengthen collaboration among scholars and artisans in Central Asia and to promote joint safeguarding activities by inventory of traditional schools on art of embroidery in Central Asia.\n\nAd hoc working group has been created, which consisted of representatives from ICH stakeholders (governmental and non-governmental organizations, artisans and scholars) from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Offline and online meetings of the working group were organized from May 2019 to March 2020 on the monthly basis. In every meeting experts exchanged views on current status, development perspectives and safeguarding challenges of the art of embroidery in their countries.\n\nIt has been observed that element is practiced and transmitted almost in all the regions of three countries: Uzbekistan (especially in the centers of artistic embroidery such as Djizak, Fergana, Namangan, Nukus, Nurata, Bukhara, Samarkand, Shakhrisabz, Urgut, Tashkent, as well as other rural areas), Tajikistan(mostly in Dushanbe, Khujand, Kulob, Istaravshan, Bokhtar, Panjakent, Hisar, Gharm, Darvaz, Khorogh, as well as other cities and regional centres) and Kazakhstan (Eastern/Altay, South-Eastern/Almaty and Nothern/Mangystau and since last century in Western parts of the country). Annually, traditional textile festivals in Central Asia are being organized in Kazakhstan (“Korpefest”, “Kazakhstan oneri”, “Altyn sapa”), Uzbekistan (“Atlas Bayrami”, “Silk and Spices”, “Altin Kul”, “Raks Sekhri”, “Boysun Bahori”) and Tajikistan (“Diyori husn”, “Taronai Chakan”, “Idi Atlas”), where many masters from these countries and also from various regions of Central Asia participate and display their handmade art products. This kind of cultural events are proper places for exchanging knowledge and establishing dialogue among societies, groups and individual masters.\n\nThe multinational nomination “Traditional embroidery of Central Asia” was successfully completed and submitted to the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris in March 2020 by the National Commission of Uzbekistan for UNESCO. The nomination will be examined by the ICH Intergovernmental Committee in 2022.\n\nAs follow up activity, following institutional members of the working group became coordinators for ICHCAP/IICAS Survey Project on Silk Roads Handicrafts Workshops, which was started in July 2021: Kazakhstan National Committee for the Safeguarding of the ICH, Institute of Culture and Information of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Tajikistan and NGO “Living Heritage” of Uzbekistan.\n\nphoto : © Lutfiya Mirzaeva

Design intervention has been an established initiative of development projects initiated by governments and NGOs across the world as a means to enhance market reach and the livelihood of traditional craft communities. However, innumerable instances have been cited on the ethics of engagement where design development has ended by benefitting the interests of designers and commercial enterprises while craftspeople have continued to remain unnamed and unknown.

Newar culture has different lifecycle rituals, performed at different stages of life from birth to death. These rituals are complex and embedded in the socio-cultural environment. With every lifecycle ritual, a person gains certain rights, responsibilities, and maturity within the society.

Hills resembling a dragon tail, composed of arenaceous soft mud stretching for several miles, scarce but fresh and lush vegetation, springs with ice-cold water spouting from the heart of the earth, waves of the salty lake gently crashing against the shore, magnificent white clouds soaring up in the sky and the numerous pilgrims, lined up one by one, treading right upon the “dragon tail” and making their pilgrimage through the sacred site Manjyly-Ata.

Traditional handicrafts are described as objects that are made manually and are influenced by an area’s geographical condition, history and climate, which have supported people’s lives throughout history.

Uzbek craftsmanship is one of the most significant parts of the creative cultural industry, contributing to sustainable economic and social development of society. Uzbek craftsmanship has not only historical and functional significance but also great artistic value. It has been attracting the attention of travelers and scholars for centuries. During the years of independence, since 1991, the handicrafts industry has undergone significant transformation. Today, it ranks high among the export-oriented creative industries of the national economy. Handicraft is an essential domain of intangible cultural heritage of humanity and plays key role in promoting creative economic development.

Gardening is a popular branch of traditional agriculture in Tajikistan. The term bāgh (garden) among Tajiks has three meanings: a home garden inside one’s own yard; a walled garden alongside the yard; and a garden far from the home and yard, where people go during summers to temporarily live and work. In these gardens, people grow fruit-bearing and shady trees as well as flowers and other crops.

Folkland, International Centre for Folklore and Culture is an institution that was first registered on December 20, 1989 under the Societies Registration Act of 1860, vide No. 406/89. Over the last 16 years, it has passed through various stages of growth, especially in the fields of performance, production, documentation, and research, besides the preservation of folk art and culture.Since its inception in 1989, Folkland has passed through various phases of growth into a cultural organization with a global presence. As stated above, Folkland has delved deep into the fields of stage performance, production, documentation, and research, besides the preservation of folk art and culture. It has strived hard and treads the untrodden path with a clear motto of preservation and inculcation of old folk and cultural values in our society. Folkland has a veritable collection of folk songs, folk art forms, riddles, fables, myths, etc. that are on the verge of extinction. This collection has been recorded and archived well for scholastic endeavors and posterity. As such, Folkland defines itself as follows

With a history of exclusion and caste-based discrimination, the Devipujaks (worshippers of the Mother Goddess) have come a long way and carved out an identity of their own through the creation of the Kalamkari(hand-painted) tradition called Mata ni Pachhedi. A community of painters, hand printers, and dyers, settled in a small urban slum in Vasna, Ahmedabad, are struggling to sustain themselves by keeping alive this age-old art. This article attempts to capture the artform Mata ni Pachhedi and how the community is working on sustaining the textile tradition despite facing numerous challenges.

Human has made great progress beyond the speed of biological evolution by using tools. First, human used stones and wood as tools for hunting and gathering, and then invented earth-baked earthenware such as bowls for food, appropriate to farming life. The defects of woodenware and earthenware, however, were obvious. It was not able to contain liquid due to their moisture absorbency, and easily damaged. Earthenware has evolved into glazed ceramic but it required a high-tech kiln with high temperature, accompanied by a technology for metal refining as a key prerequisite. In East Asia, moisture proof and insect proof techniques to coat objects were invented much earlier. That is lacquer technique.\nProduction process of lacquer is delicate and complicated such as handling lacquer sap at the risk of skin disease, creating hot and humid environment for hardening process, etc. Nevertheless, in East Asia, people have used lacquer technique in many regions from the Neolithic Age, knowing its merits earlier on. Lacquer was used for adhesive and surface protection of leather, earthenware, ceramics and metalware. In particular, it has been inextricably linked to wooden objects. Whereas in West Asia and Europe various varnishes mixed with dry oil and resin has been used, in East Asia lacquer was used as a basic varnish in common. That shows that lacquer is great material and technique to represent the commonality of Asian culture.1) This article aims to briefly look into the origin of lacquer technique in Northeast Asia and share the information on it and its current status of transmission.

Prabartana is a social enterprise working in diverse sections for revival which includes: arts, crafts, food security, and community-led responsible tourism. The organization provides training to weavers and has contributed to technical enhancement through documentation of patterns in computers instead of the manual style of Jacquard pattern design. As safeguarding action, they involve artisans in exhibitions and workshops for cultural exchange, audio-visual documentation and publication of books, social media-based promotions and audience development through the Web, newspaper articles and festival-relevant brochures. The organization also promotes community-led responsible tourism through AJIYER, where the community has the rights and knowledge to operate tours and promote and conserve cultural heritage, apart from safeguarding their environment.