Origin Guides

Country-by-country guides to sourcing from the world's craft clusters.

Origin guides are country files. Each one sets out which regions make which crafts, how production tends to be organised there, what usually shows up in a quotation from that market, and what to check before you shortlist a supplier in it. They are written to be read next to the origin hub pages on this site, which carry the actual supplier records and their verification status.

What each country file contains

The guides follow the same questions in each market, so two countries can be compared without re-reading both in full:

  • The named clusters — the towns and regions a craft is concentrated in, and why it settled there.
  • How production is organised — household workshop, co-operative, export house, or a mix, and what that means for capacity and for who you actually contract with.
  • What the market is genuinely strong at, rather than everything it makes.
  • The practical friction — seasonality, festival shutdowns, material availability, and the documentation habits of exporters in that market.

A country is not a quality grade

The most common mistake these guides are written against is treating an origin as a proxy for quality or for price. Every market in this set contains workshops producing museum-grade work and workshops producing tourist stock, often in the same street, and the spread inside a country is wider than the spread between countries. Use the origin file to understand what is available and how to ask for it; use supplier-level evidence to decide who can deliver it.

Reading them with the origin hubs

Each guide has a matching hub page listing the craft clusters we hold records for in that country, with every record marked as verified, publicly grounded or indicative. The guide is the editorial context; the hub is the file. When the two appear to disagree — the guide names a cluster the hub has no records for — the hub is the honest one, and the gap is a gap in our research rather than a claim about the country.

What these guides will not tell you

Origin guides do not quote prices, wage levels, export volumes or market shares. They also make no claim about labour conditions at any individual workshop: country-level generalisations about working conditions are unreliable and unfair in both directions, and the only useful answer comes from audit evidence about the specific supplier you are considering.

Every origin guides article

Sourcing Guide: Handicrafts from the Philippines

A sourcing guide to the Philippines: capiz shell craft, abaca and raffia fibre, rattan furniture, Paete wood carving, and pearls

Sourcing Guide: Handicrafts from Egypt

A sourcing guide to Egypt's crafts: alabaster carving, khayamiya appliqué, hand-blown glass, papyrus, and mother-of-pearl inlay

Sourcing Guide: Handicrafts from Nepal

A sourcing guide to Nepal's crafts: pashmina and cashmere, felted wool, singing bowls, thangka painting, and lokta paper

Sourcing Guide: Handicrafts from China

A sourcing guide to China's craft heritage for bulk buyers: Jingdezhen porcelain, Suzhou silk and embroidery, cloisonné, jade carving, and lacquerware

Sourcing Guide: Handicrafts from Kenya & Ghana

A sourcing guide to Kenya and Ghana: Kisii soapstone, Kente cloth, Maasai beadwork, and African wood sculpture

Sourcing Guide: Handicrafts from Turkey

A sourcing guide to Turkey's crafts: kilim rugs, Iznik-style ceramics, hammered copper (Gaziantep), and mosaic lamps

Sourcing Guide: Handicrafts from Thailand & Vietnam

Thailand and Vietnam for bulk buyers: Chiang Mai celadon, Binh Duong lacquerware, bronze casting and Mekong silk, with the export realities of each.

Sourcing Guide: Handicrafts from Peru

Peru's four export craft categories for bulk buyers: Andean alpaca textiles, Ayacucho retablos, regional pottery, and silverwork from the Cusco corridor.

Sourcing Guide: Handicrafts from Mexico

A sourcing guide to Mexico's crafts: Talavera pottery (Puebla), barro negro (Oaxaca), alebrijes, and Taxco silver

Sourcing Guide: Handicrafts from Indonesia

A sourcing guide to Indonesia's crafts: batik (Yogyakarta), rattan and bamboo (Bali), ikat, and silver (Kota Gede)

Sourcing Guide: Handicrafts from Morocco

Morocco's craft clusters for bulk buyers: zellige and Fassi ware in Fes, Berber rugs in the Atlas, tannery leather, and Marrakech brass and lanterns.

Sourcing Guide: Handicrafts from India

India's craft clusters for bulk buyers: brass in Moradabad, marble inlay in Agra, Dhokra in Bastar, Pashmina in Kashmir, handloom in Varanasi and more.

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