WCC experts describe Rashti-Duzi as exceptional craft

Experts from the World Crafts Council (WCC) have recently described Rashti-Duzi as one of the world’s exceptional crafts.

In their Sunday arrival to the northern Iranian city of Rasht, WCC assessors visited several destinations including a rural heritage museum, traditional workshops and bazaars of handicrafts, and a cultural heritage museum dedicated to Rashti-Duzi.

The evaluators of the World Crafts Council are on a three-day mission to confirm the great history and antiquity of Rasht and to look at the city from the lens of handicrafts.

“While examining handicrafts of Rasht, we got acquainted with the art of Rashti-Duzi, which in addition to color, design, and originality, its name is derived from this city itself, which is very attractive for evaluators,” IRNA quoted one of the WCC experts as saying on Tuesday.

According to provincial officials, receiving the title of ‘world city of handicrafts’ by the World Crafts Council will help preserve the ancient crafts for the next generation.

Rasht has been nominated for the title of ‘world handicrafts city’ as the ancient city has long been a center for wood-turning, traditional needlework that is called Rashti-Duzi by the locals, marquetry, woodcarving, leatherwork, pottery, and traditional textiles.

Currently, over 27,000 artisans are working in 42 different fields of handicrafts across Gilan Province.

Rashti-Duzi is the traditional art of crocheting and sewing, indigenous to Rasht, the capital of the northern Iranian province of Gilan.

To know more about Rashti-Duzi, click here.

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