Discover handicrafts masters as Georgia joins European Artistic Crafts Days for first time

Georgia will join the sixteenth edition of the European Artistic Crafts Day (EACD), the largest crafts event in Europe, for the first time next week, with venues in the country set to host tours and exhibitions to mark the occasion.

Launched by the Institut National des Métiers d'Art (INMA) in 2012, the week-long international event with the motto Our Hands in Unison will be coordinated by the Georgian Arts and Culture Centre and Georgian Heritage Crafts Association, with various activities including free tours, workshops and masterclasses offered to Georgian creatives and cultural organisations participating in the programme.

Cultural institutions such as the Georgian State Silk Museum, the State Academy of Arts Museum and the Georgian National Museum will host the event with tours and exhibitions in capital Tbilisi and regions of the country.

The international annual event will this year focus on human encounters, exchanges and savoir-faire demonstrations. The official preview said it would look to “rebuild bridges between craftsmen and women and their audience”.

In 2022, more than ever, hands will connect during workshops, shake with new collaborations, apprenticeships and reunions. These hands have knowledge that they transform and pass on. They are the craftsman’s tool, its metronome and instrument [...] During the 2022 European Artistic Crafts Days, on every land and in every language, craftspeople will share their passion with the same voice and same hands, in unison,”

- EACD

Founded in 2002 by the French Savoire-Faire Institute, the European Artistic Crafts Day was originally known as the Artistic Crafts Days and designed to celebrate the importance and diversity of the French intangible cultural heritage. The event nowadays facilitates the development of the industry and the raising of awareness in Europe via engaging society, media and local leadership in the process.

Since 2011, the event has grown into an annual occasion offering exhibitions, conferences and other activities, involving up to 20 European countries by 2012. 

This year’s EACD will run between March 28-April 3, with the programme in Georgia available online.