65 Iranian products receive 2010 UNESCO award

Sixty five handicrafts products from Iran were awarded the 2010 UNESCO Award of Excellence for Handicrafts by an international panel of UNESCO experts in Isfahan last week.


The winning entries came from the highly diverse 277 submissions, including traditionally woven textiles, felt, embroidery, natural fibres, enamel and metal work, wood carvings and traditional musical instruments, ceramics and tiles, stone and leather products, a press release issued by the UN Information Center (UNIC) said here on Sunday.

The 2010 winning entries are expected to be exhibited in different cities in Iran, while photographs and details about the awards will be available from UNESCO Tehran Cluster Office as well as the website: www.unescobkk.org/culture/craftseal

Iran has participated in the UNESCO Award of Excellence for Handicrafts program since 2007, and now has 116 products which have been granted this prestigious award.

This year’s jury session, organized every two years since 2008, was co-organized by the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicraft and Tourism Organization and UNESCO Tehran Cluster Office. The next jury session will take place in 2012.

The above event is part of a worldwide UNESCO program, established to encourage the craft sector to preserve cultural diversity and traditional skills and knowledge in an increasingly competitive context. The UNESCO Award aims to promote high standards of quality and authenticity, while encouraging artisans to consider the relevance and function of their creations.

The program, formerly known as the UNESCO Seal of Excellence for Handicrafts, was established in South-East Asia in 2001 by UNESCO and the ASEAN Handicraft Promotion and Development Association. It was expanded to South Asia in 2004, to East Asia in 2006, West-Central Asia in 2007, and to Latin America and Africa since 2008 onwards. The Award winners receive a certificate and will benefit from a range of capacity-building and promotional support.

Over the last few weeks, different panels of international UNESCO experts gathered across the world to judge entries for the 2010 UNESCO Award of Excellence in Handicrafts. Iran has so far received the highest number of awards for 2010, as well as the highest total number of awards granted to a single country.

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