>[!INFO] >This is one of the [[Symbolic values]] of craft. >Editor: [[Linda S McIntosh]] The cultural value of craft reflects its contribution to a shared identity experienced by communities, peoples, religions, and nations. Craft sits alongside other cultural expressions, such as music, literature, art, dance, and cuisine. Like these, it sustains skills that have evolved over millennia and are kept alive today by transgenerational transfer of knowledge and other methods. Uniquely, it offers a direct material connection across generations.  The cultural value is expressed in a variety of forms. These include: - World Craft Cities and the UNESCO Creative Cities for Crafts and Folk Arts - The concern for dying crafts, whose loss will diminish our living heritage - The quest to return stolen artefacts to the original communities ### Key Claims %% DATAVIEW_PUBLISHER: start ```dataview list summary from #claim AND [[Cultural value of craft]] ``` %% - [[Weft/Claims/Claim - Craft can foster cultural tolerance.md|Claim - Craft can foster cultural tolerance]]: Craft plays an important role in promoting cultural understanding and tolerance. Exposure to different crafts encourages dialogue and mutual respect. Festivals, fairs, and school curricula assist in exposing the community to various crafts and performing arts. - [[Weft/Claims/Claim - Craft connects members of a cultural group in the diaspora.md|Claim - Craft connects members of a cultural group in the diaspora]]: For those who have migrated to another country, craft helps them sustain their culture in a foreign environment. - [[Weft/Claims/Claim - Craft fosters the resilience of a minority cultural group.md|Claim - Craft fosters the resilience of a minority cultural group]]: Craft fosters the resilience of a minority ethnic group and helps sustain their culture when it is not reflected in mainstream society. - [[Weft/Claims/Claim - Craft plays an important role in rites of passage associated with birth and childhood.md|Claim - Craft plays an important role in rites of passage associated with birth and childhood]]: \- - [[Weft/Claims/Claim - Craft strengthens relationships between members of a cultural group.md|Claim - Craft strengthens relationships between members of a cultural group]]: Different types of craft products play crucial roles in strengthening relationships between members of the same cultural group. %% DATAVIEW_PUBLISHER: end %% ### Case Study: Cultural Value of Textiles in Society Handmade textiles, whether hand-woven, embroidered, felted, or made in another manner, are an important aspect of culture in numerous societies.  Textiles express individual, familial, and cultural group identities. High-quality textiles are valued for their maker’s skills and creativity within and outside their cultural group. A ruler or leader’s power is reflected in his or her regalia which partially consists of textiles in their materials and patterning. Textiles also convey information about the belief systems of the maker’s culture. Traditional Chinese textiles and clothing played important roles in Chinese culture. Motifs and colors indicated the rank and age of the wearer. Yellow was considered the most noble color, symbolizing royalty in the Tang Dynasty.  Rank badges demonstrated civil, military, and imperial rank beginning in the Ming Dynasty. Birds represented civil servants while different animals signified military rank. Since the Tang Dynasty, the imperial dragon robe was decorated with nine, five-clawed dragons. Twelve other symbols that symbolized the ruler was also woven into the textile composing a dragon robe.