Craft
Introduction: craft products
In Puglia, art and creativity find their most natural and meaningful expression in craft products made from simple elements and poor materials. Ancient crafts are traditional techniques handed down from father to son perfectly blended in today's innovation and modernity.
Paper mache
Walking through the historic centre of Lecce there are many small shops of paper mache to be admired. Sacred statues, nativity scene figures, typical decorative objects, masks and lovely souvenirs created using paper, wire, straw, rags, glue and plaster, and then painted and decorated. Only the...
Terracotta and ceramics
Dating back as early as the Messapians, terracotta and ceramics are materials widely used in Puglia's crafts. They are used for example to create cute and colourful whistles in the form of caricature figures of everyday life such as mounted police and celebrities or animals, bells, utensils,...
Other materials
In general, the craftsmen of Puglia have always made good use of what nature has to offer to create objects of daily use. For example, using the specific properties of willow, they have always used wicker to make baskets, rush to build traps for fishing and small baskets called "fiscelle" for the...
Embroidery
An ancient art, handed down from mother to daughter, is embroidery. Once widespread, it enriched the trousseau of every houses and was the basis for the bride's dowry. Curtains, sheets, tablecloths, towels were made but also doilies and lace. The most commonly used stitches were tatting stitches,...
