Andenne

City of Crafts and Folk Art since 2025

City presentation

Nestled in the Mosan Valley, Andenne has built its identity around a ceramic tradition stretching back more than a thousand years. The richness of local clay deposits gave rise to a distinctive craftsmanship culture that has left its mark on the city’s urban landscape, folklore and collective memory. A vibrant network of cultural institutions — including a dedicated museum, a cultural centre and a creative hub — sustains exhibitions, workshops and artist residencies throughout the year, drawing over 20,000 visitors annually. The city’s international reach is demonstrated by its triennial ceramic arts event, which brings together more than 5,000 visitors and hundreds of artists from around the world. A Ceramic Hub launched in 2024 has become a meeting point for artisans, researchers and educators, reaching over 30,000 participants in its first year through markets, workshops and public events.

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Areguà

City of Crafts and Folk Art since 2019

City presentation

Areguá is a crafts city located on the shores of Lake Ypacarai and 30 km from Asunción. Although principally renowned for producing pottery, the city also offers a great range of popular arts including music and dance. Home to over 450 pottery workshops, Areguá is regarded as one of the three key pottery cities of Paraguay. Due to its Urban Cultural Heritage, Areguá was recognised as a national Cultural Heritage site in 1997.

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Aswan

City of Crafts and Folk Art since 2005

City presentation

Aswan, located along the Nile, has a rich history as a commercial center and cultural hub dating back to Ancient Egypt. Renowned for its crafts and folk arts, Aswan’s creative heritage includes beadwork, palm branch creations, clay products, and traditional needlework. Local folk traditions, especially in clothing, jewelry, and dance, play a significant role in the city’s cultural identity, with over 50 traditional dances still performed today by groups like the Aswan Folk Troupe.

Institutions such as the Aswan Museum and Nubia Museum focus on preserving the region’s folk arts, while events like the International Symposium of Sculpture celebrate its artistic legacy. As a UNESCO Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art, Aswan fosters sustainable development through culture by organizing events, supporting artisans with capacity-building programs, and engaging in international exchanges. These efforts promote creativity as a means of advancing social and economic development.

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Ayacucho

City of Crafts and Folk Art since 2019

City presentation

Founded in 1539, Ayacucho is known as the “Capital City of Folk Art and Peruvian Craftsmanship.” This Andean city fosters cultural diversity and artistic creativity, developing 16 types of crafts, including retablo, tapestry, Huamanga stone carving, pottery, textiles, and embroidery.

Ayacucho’s local crafts and folk art are celebrated during festivals like Easter and Carnival, which blend music, cinema, theatre, and dance. Events such as the First Regional Meeting of Craftsmen in 2019 aim to promote growth by addressing issues in the industry.

The city also supports crafts through a symposium that led to the creation of a folk art museum, interpretation centers, and a dedicated budget. Ayacucho aims to improve the handicraft sector, promote crafts in local and international markets, teach folk art in schools, recover its cultural heritage, and provide youth internships in partnership with local universities.

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Ballarat

City of Crafts and Folk Art since 2019

City presentation

Ballarat, located on the Yarrowee River in Victoria, Australia, is a creative city with a rich history, from indigenous culture to the gold rush era. With a population of 107,000, its crafts and folk art sector is the fastest-growing, blending traditional indigenous techniques with modern innovations.

The city celebrates its crafts legacy through the Winter Festival, which connects traditional crafts with new technologies like augmented reality. Ballarat supports creative growth with initiatives like “Start-Up Ballarat,” mentoring entrepreneurs in the crafts field, and “Made of Ballarat,” which links local tourism with artisans.
Ballarat envisions becoming an iconic city by revitalizing rare and forgotten crafts, promoting indigenous skills, and fostering creative innovation, while building capacity for cultural programming and supporting First Nations people through UNESCO’s Historic Urban Landscape approach.

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Bamiyan

City of Crafts and Folk Art since 2015

City presentation

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Bukhara

City of Crafts and Folk Art since 2023

City presentation

Bukhara, renowned for its cultural and architectural heritage, has a long-standing tradition of craftsmanship that plays a crucial role in the city’s development. The craft industry supports economic growth, job creation, and increased tourism, while promoting social inclusion and preserving cultural heritage. Skilled artisans in Bukhara practice traditional techniques in golden embroidery, ceramics, jewellery, and woodwork, which are integral to the region’s history along the ancient Silk Road. These artisans also contribute to cultural preservation through workshops and training programs.
With growing global interest in Bukhara’s crafts, international recognition has opened new export opportunities, boosting the local economy and reinforcing the city’s cultural identity.

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Cairo

City of Crafts and Folk Art since 2017

City presentation

Cairo, the capital city of Egypt, is the largest metropolitan area in the Middle East and has long been a major cultural hub. Known for its rich craftsmanship, the city’s historic center features neighborhoods named after various craft practices. The local creative economy heavily relies on the crafts and folk art sector, which represents 80% of its cultural activities.

Communities in the historic center support crafts by establishing guilds for pottery, glassblowing, coppersmithing, ceramics, and jewelry. Cairo organizes events like the Diarna Fair and the Heritage Forum to promote craft heritage and raise awareness of the creative sector. The International Festival of Drums and Traditional Arts showcases traditional folk art and music. To revive the inactive historic center, the Urban Regeneration Project identifies culture and creativity as key elements for restoration. Cairo aims to strengthen artisans’ skills, create a multipurpose urban square for craft exhibitions, repurpose public buildings as Community Craft Centres, and engage in partnerships for professional development within the cultural sector.

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Caldas da Rainha

City of Crafts and Folk Art since 2019

City presentation

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Cheongju City

City of Crafts and Folk Art since 2025

City presentation

Situated in the central region of South Korea, Cheongju is a dynamic urban hub where a rich educational landscape — eight universities — and a diverse cultural infrastructure converge with centuries of craft heritage. The city holds a singular place in world history as the birthplace of Jikji, the oldest known book printed with movable metal type, inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register. This legacy of innovation and transmission lives on through thriving practices in ceramics, metalwork, textiles, lacquerware and paper crafts. Since 1999, the Cheongju Craft Biennale has drawn around 300,000 visitors per edition, placing the city firmly on the global craft map. Today, 832 craft-related companies, 180 registered artists and 80 small workshops generate approximately USD 46 million in annual sales and employ more than 3,400 people.

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Chiang Mai

City of Crafts and Folk Art since 2017

City presentation

Located in Northern Thailand, Chiang Mai, the “Rose of the North,” was established in 1296 as the capital of the Lanna Kingdom. The city’s craftspeople were essential in developing its reputation as a trade center, contributing to the crafts industry from nearby villages, with 159 established enterprises providing significant employment. Chiang Mai’s craft practices, including pottery, silverwork, wood carving, silk embroidery, and lacquerware, are passed down through programs in public schools, like the ‘Museum to School’ initiative, which raises awareness of local crafts and folk arts.

The Chiang Mai Provincial Administrative Organisation is committed to protecting this heritage by enhancing educational institutions and launching the ‘One Sub-District, One Product’ initiative to support local crafts in global markets, benefiting small-scale producers, including those from vulnerable communities, through capacity-building workshops.

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Chardeleg

City of Crafts and Folk Art since 2017

City presentation

Chordeleg, a small city in southern Ecuador, is renowned for its precious metal work, pottery, footwear manufacturing, and toquilla straw weaving. These four sectors employ 66% of the active population, with 58% being women artisans. Craft knowledge is traditionally passed down through families and communities via oral tradition, and the city supports sustainability by helping artisans establish cooperatives and facilitating knowledge transfer.

The annual Candonga Festival, initiated in 2011, promotes Chordeleg’s crafts and encourages collaboration among artisans. The city partners with the Inter-American Centre for Crafts and Popular Arts (CIDAP) to safeguard traditional craft methods and improve working conditions. Additionally, the Municipality is implementing a National Plan to protect traditional toquilla weaving, focusing on revitalizing the craft sector through promotion and communication, while a broader Development and Territorial Planning strategy has already led to the creation of 12 new businesses.

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Faenza

City of Crafts and Folk Art since 2025

City presentation

Few cities in the world have lent their name to an entire art form — Faenza is one of them, having given rise to the term “faïence” through centuries of ceramic excellence. Drawing on the clay-rich soils of the Lamone River basin, the city developed a craft tradition that today encompasses over 70 active workshops where ancestral techniques meet contemporary design. The sector has an international dimension: nearly 30% of practitioners have relocated to Faenza from other regions or countries, enriching the creative community, while approximately 30% of production reaches European and North American markets. The International Museum of Ceramics anchors the city’s cultural life, welcoming over 40,000 visitors a year, alongside international events such as the Argillà biennial and the Premio Faenza competition, established in 1938. Faenza also leads the European Route of Ceramics, a Cultural Route certified by the Council of Europe, and hosts the headquarters of the Italian Association of Cities of Ceramics.

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Gimhae

City of Crafts and Folk Art since 2021

City presentation

Gimhae, renowned for its Gaya pottery and Buncheong ware from the Joseon Dynasty, is modernizing its crafts sector into a thriving creative industry. Home to 240 craft companies, the city’s Workshop Village serves as a key creative hub for production, education, and trade. Gimhae’s ceramics industry is supported by institutions like the Clayarch Gimhae Museum, the world’s first architectural ceramics museum, and the Gimhae Buncheong Ceramics Museum, dedicated to preserving and evolving Buncheong ware.

Gimhae aims to innovate its ceramics tradition, integrate citizen participation in its creative city development, and align with Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in education, gender equality, and sustainable urban development.

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Hangzhou

City of Crafts and Folk Art since 2012

City presentation

With a 5,000-year history, Hangzhou, one of China’s ancient capitals, has transformed by focusing on cultural and creative industries. Its rich history supports renowned crafts such as silk and tea production, as well as porcelain and bronze sculptures. As a historic center for Chinese silk, Hangzhou has preserved this craft heritage. Known as China’s “Tea Capital,” the city is famous for West Lake Longjing Green Tea. Additionally, the stone carvings by the Xiling Seal Engraver’s Society highlight Hangzhou’s enduring crafts tradition. Recognized as a “National Cultural and Creative Centre,” Hangzhou’s creative industries employ over 336,000 people and play a key role in the city’s economic and cultural development.

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Hebron

City of Crafts and Folk Art since 2025

City presentation

One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Hebron has served for over 5,000 years as a crossroads of trade, faith and craftsmanship. Its Old City, centred on the Al-Ibrahimi Mosque and the Tomb of the Patriarchs, is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List and remains a living hub of cultural and economic activity. Across generations, the city has cultivated distinctive traditions in pottery, blown glass, embroidery and stone carving, with glassblowing dating back to the 14th century. Over 1,200 artisans work today in small family-run workshops and cooperatives, supported by more than 200 artisan enterprises that provide employment particularly for women and young people. Cultural institutions such as the Hebron Old City Museum and the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee, together with events like the Hebron Arts and Heritage Festival, sustain public engagement with this heritage. In 2016, the city received official recognition as a World Crafts City by the World Crafts Council.

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