Traditional Ukrainian crafts and their promotion abroad
As Ukraine is rich in culture and history, there is a well-developed crafts tradition. Two Ukrainian craft products are part of UNESCO list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity: Kosiv painted ceramics and the Petrykivka painting style (the third in this list are the Cossack’s songs of Dnipropetrovsk Region).
Traditional crafts can be an important instrument for regional branding, tourist development and regional development in general. We plan in the future to work more on this issue, involve young people as well as international partners and, in doing so, protect and promote these traditional styles, that are not well preserved yet mostly in rural areas.
Currently we are in contact with basket weavers in some villages; it is a family business, mostly done by the elder and therefore under threat of disappearing. We found partners in Germany (a whole city, branding itself the European weaving capital, including a Higher Vocational School only for weaving), who will hopefully continue communication with them and begin a project to promote this weaving craft tradition in Ukraine. Clearly there is much unknown still left to discover.
Traditional Ukrainian decorative painting style, orginating from village of Petrykivka in Dnipropetrovsk oblast
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