Indonesia is responsible for producing a huge range of continually developing craft products. Craftspeople are responding to a growing appreciation and awareness of products that are expertly hand-crafted rather than machine-made. There is a growing recognition of the skills-found in mostly poor villages-needed to create objects of great beauty and desirability. It is craftsmanship at this level that Indonesian Arts and Crafts seeks to encompass.The book is designed so that industry, tourism and the craftspeople will benefit from a wider awareness, knowledge and understanding. Another dimension is the analysis of Indonesian craftsmanship in relationship to the creative industry and the role that design plays. Having surveyed the background to craft making in the context of history and culture, and examining the materials used by the craftspeople, the second part of the book provides an overview of the many ways that Indonesian craftspeople and designers are working together to create, through design, crafts of the highest international standards.
