Plovdiv, Bulgaria: This year, the Regional Ethnographic Museum – Plovdiv gathers the master craftsmen, our “living human treasures”, to participate in the Week of Traditional Crafts XV edition. A real bazaar of craft workshops will be formed in the museum yard of Plovdiv. This event has been established over the years, and museum guests look forward to it.
Visitors will be able to see rare home crafts such as vertical loom weaving, rat making, quince, embroidery, painting on silk, Easter eggs and more. In the spirit of sound tradition, there will be weekly demonstrations of wood carvers, basket makers, blacksmiths, knives, jewellers, leathermen, candlesticks, potters and whatnot. This week’s particular focus is jewellery craft with different materials and techniques.
The museum’s purpose is to revive the memory of the crafts in Renaissance Plovdiv and enable today’s masters to showcase their skills. The opening will take place on June 27, 2023. from 12:00 p.m. at the Regional Ethnographic Museum – Plovdiv.
In 2023 it is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Stoyna Krastanova, who earned a Master of Folk Art Crafts, so one of the focuses of the Week of Traditional Crafts is ancient textile techniques. With the assistance of the Stoyna Krastanova Foundation, the guests are representatives of the Boutis antique embroidery group from Pern-le-Fontaine, France.
From faraway China come masters who will demonstrate three local craft schools. One will introduce art techniques related to paper cutting and engraving, the second will be a specific type of embroidery in the Shu style, and the third will make beautiful paper kites.
Plovdiv’s partner and contributor at the annual Craft Week are the Regional Center for the Preservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage in South-East Europe – Sofia, under the auspices of UNESCO, which supports our efforts to create a sustainable traditional manifestation, popularizing and supporting intangible cultural heritage.