In Cambodia, I visited an organisation called Artisans Angkor, which has it’s own training development plan, workshops and retail outlets which help to preserve local craft techniques and provide a livelihood in rural communities. (Nowadays, there is great value placed on arts and crafts within the community, and every hotel boasts decorative work by local craftspeople.) I took a tour of the workshop facilities in Siem Reap and was impressed with the huge range of skills which are applied, the pleasant working atmosphere, and the high quality pieces which are being produced.
In particular, I was very interested to see how the intricately details metal trinket boxes are made. They are cut into a net pattern when flat, then the design is carefully punched in, before the piece is re-shaped and finished into a working box.
Painting tiny little dots
Punching details onto copper
Creating a tiled background
