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Traditional craft & heritage

Traditional crafts have been passed on by generations and carry the wealth of other times. They tell stories about how we live and who we are, carry the artisans frequencies and skills forward, and store ancestral knowledge. Many traditional crafts are of very high frequency, often strongly rooted in nature due to the choice of materials and motives, the ways of producing the items, and their connection with times during which the frequency on this planet was high. Most of these art forms have been marginalised and become associated with narratives of inferiority in contrast to machine-driven sophistication and a Europe-centered global economy. Yet many crafts survived, are now revived, combined with new technologies and ideas, and still carry the same high frequencies as they always have, esp. when practiced by authentic artisans of which there are many.

Embodying true sustainability, traditional crafts typically use abundant locally available materials and knowledge, and are often carried out by indigenous people who hold the practical and historical skills and stories surrounding these arts. This is a treasure to be cherished, reciprocated fairly and acknowledged in its wholeness. The respectful treatment of such crafts, their artisans and communities is still a rare sight in an industrialised world centered around money. Many indigenous skills and crafts are endangered, and need support within the context of the cultures from which they emerge. Unfortunately there is a tendency of artisanal work to be sold at luxury markets, rendering it inaccessible for the majority of people, perpetuating inequality. Hopefully ongoing changes in our trading systems will eliminate such exclusiveness.

Oma Traditional Textile Design

Laos

Traditional Oma textile design database. Securing cultural intellectual property rights for the Oma ethnic group of Laos. Securing 3 Cs’ rule for the use of indigenous & traditional art: consent, credit, compensation©. Excess to full database provided on individual basis upon request.

Baskets of Africa

Pan-Africa

Hand-woven baskets, made from natural, traditional fibers & dyes, using traditional indigenous weaving techniques. Preserving indigenous cultural heritage. Supporting artisan women & their families. Fairtrade. Collaboration rooted in mutual trust & respect.

Batak weaving

North Sumatra, Indonesia

Rangsa ni Tonun – The sacred Batak weaving tradition for the production of textiles, which is in danger of becoming extinct. Film produced by Sandra Niessen, anthropologist, Netherlands. Director & filmer: Javanese artist MJA Nashir.

Indego Africa

Pan-Africa

Hand-made artisan crafted baskets, home décor & accessories, using heritage techniques incl. raffia-weaving & woodcarving, hand-embroidery & wool-spinning. Empowering women, youth & refugees across Africa. 100% of profits go into education of artisans, building long-term, transparent relationships. Fair wages far above standard. Use of local natural materials incl. fibers indigenous to the countries & traditional natural dyes. Reduced waste in production process by recycling, upcycling & repurposing materials.

Acoustic Pottery

West Virginia, USA

Inspired by “The Hidden Messages in Water” (Masuru Emoto), Lockbridge Pottery plays music in the kiln room during firing of crystalline glazing, creating beautiful crystal patterns. Different types of music are used. Family-run since > 40 years. Jeff Diehl comes from a family line of potters with German roots, keeping traditional craft alive & merging it with new techniques & ideas. Traditional German salt kiln built form salvaged rocks. High-quality craftsmanship.

Ancestral Rich Treasures of Zuni Cooperative

New Mexico, USA

Zuni artisan community of > 7000 artists incl. carvers, jewelers, metal smiths, painters, potters, silversmiths, textile weavers, wood workers. Zuni Artists Owned & Managed Cooperative. ARTZ Cooperative Gallery – meeting place for Zuni community. Zuni Pueblo ArtWalk features artisan studios many of which are open daily for drop-ins. Ensuring authentic products by selling directly from Zuni community to those who love the art.

Aran Sweater Market

Aran Islands, Ireland

Hand-made knitwear. 100% wool from sheep raised on organic pastures. Made for durability. Entirely produced on the Aran Islands from raising the sheep to finished product. Use of traditional stitches which hold the history of generations of skilled knitters & designers. A celebration of the long tradition of Aran knitwear.

Northmen Guild

Scandinavia & Latvia

Fascinating guild of authentic northern craftsmen who live & teach their skills incl. carpentry, sustainable living, leather work, blacksmithing (knives, swords, axes), watch-making, organic food & wild foraging, wooden house-building with tenon joinery (no nails, screws, glue). Hand-made, for durability, with simple tools, using natural materials. Flourishing by living an endangered, rich heritage & sharing it with the world.

Angela Damman

Yucatán, Mexico

Reviving endangered, ancient Mayan techniques of using henequén, and now also sansevieria, plant fibers (both Agave). Woven bags & home decor made from fibers of agave plants grown without fertilizers, herbicides and irrigation. All steps from growing the plants to weaving the finished product happen within a 50-mile radius in Yucatán, supporting rural Mayan communities & their artisan knowledge. Organic dyes used for colouring.

Wildcrafted Ceramics

USA

Hand-made, wildcrafted pottery made from unprocessed clays collected across the US. Made by Pascal Baudar who is also a specialist in foraging, cuisine based on wild edible plants & in traditional food preservation. Variety of pottery techniques used. Combining nature’s food & art.

Fabriulous

China

Handmade fabric, accessories, homeware, vintage products made by rural indigenous artisans of minority ethnic groups. Supporting & reviving endangered heritage crafts incl. weaving, horsetail embroidery, natural dying, brocade & batik. Made from locally grown, natural materials. Supply chain transparency. Reducing waste via upcycling & repurposing of products & fabrics.

1050°

Southern Mexico

Pottery artisan cooperative passionately creating high-quality, simple & elegant kitchenware, restoring Oaxaca’s, Chiapas’ & Puebla’s pottery tradition. Authentic, transparent, drawing from collective knowledge & memory. Part of Innovando la Tradición, a non-profit organization dedicated to keeping pottery alive. Strong community of 50 potters focused on mutual respect. Driving transformation via solidarity economy, sharing, free dissemination of ideas & fair prices. Made from local Earth in deep connection with nature.

Nablus Soap Company

West Bank, Palestine

Handmade 100% natural soap made with traditional methods & ingredients of high quality by a family which has produced soaps for 100s of years. Supporting skin’s natural self-healing abilities. Rooted in connectedness to local lands & herbs.

Scott Richardson-Read

Scotland

Scottish everyday folk traditions, lore & magic through the lens of current Scottish & European culture. Transforming traditional knowledge based on understanding the ‘why’s’ behind ancestral beliefs & practices. Contributing to rediscovery & survival of knowledge & associated language. Standing up to borrowing, misuse & misrepresentation of ancestral knowledge out of context, or with self-centered agendas.

Snowchange Cooperative

Finland & Siberia, Russia

Upholding sacred traditional knowledge, stories, crafts, fishing & hunting skills. Restoration of 110-hectare Linnunsuo Marshmire after toxic pollution & physical destruction by commercial peat mining. Further community-embedded rewilding projects – always merging indigenous knowledge & research with modern science. Also worldwide network of indigenous peoples.

Snowchange Archive of Northern Traditions:

Baiyue Tea Society

Vietnam

Large diversity of endangered ethnic minority groups specialised in ancient, sacred mountain tea picking, processing & ritual. Creating means of sustainable livelihoods to maintain foothold & traditional ways of life amidst corporate invasion in the region. Increasing market visibility of ethically harvested, exquisite teas while maintaining affordability. Driving authentic, sustainable tourism.

Kandahar Treasure

Afghanistan

Hand-embroidered shawls, scarfs, bags, home accessories – elevating unmarried & widowed women artisans out of poverty via rare, exquisite, ancient Khamak embroidery. Complex geometrical patterns, nature motives & new designs; cherishing aesthetic beauty. Finding structure, peace, meaning & autonomy through art. Creating independence from political parties, government & religious institutions. Modelling social entrepreneurship.

De Kat in Zaandam

Netherlands

Last traditional pigment windmill – grinding large range of colouring materials for paints, inks, textiles, plastics etc. incl. European ochres, semi-precious stone pigments, vegetable dyes, fillers, waxes etc. Also glues, sacred resins, tools, books. Keeping cultural heritage alive.

Herring Girl Collection

Outer Hebrides, Scotland

Hand-knitted clothes & homewares based on traditional patterns & designs of nomadic herring girls who followed the fishing fleets, gutted herring & knitted beautiful, practical things whenever time allowed. Paying tribute to island culture, meaning & beauty. Patterns passed down through generations.

CRAFT DRAFT

Morocco & UK

Traditional Moroccan crafting, workshops, courses & craft study trips: Moroccan geometry, brass engraving, copper craft, leather bookbinding. Keeping rich traditions alive. Father-son business, rooted in a long line of artisans. Reimagining traditional apprenticeship to create gateways for cultural exchange. Also: Andalusian Oud music.

Our donation model

We envision a change towards gift economies rooted in the very same ways in which Nature operates. Our donation model is based on these principles. If you like this website which is a gift from us to you, fueled by endless hours of connecting with people, businesses and initiatives, please take a look at our Donation page to find out how you can reciprocate, or pass on that gift. Or, if you already know our model and would like to be part of it in a monetary way, you can go straight to Donate below. Thank you!

Artist Hotspot

Rowena Scotney
Multimedia artist
Based in England, UK

Find out more via her website:
www.rowenascotney.com

Carina Ramm

Carina was the original founder of SunBeings who approached Kate to do the design for the platform. In the 3.5 years of working together, a friendship blossomed, and creative ideas arose between the two of them that has helped build what SunBeings has the potential to grow into.

Since December 2025, Carina has left to move onto engaging with the world in other ways, but we cannot forget the legacy she has left behind – SunBeings wouldn’t have existed if it wasn’t for her!

Her dedication, passion and knowledge was very admirable. She managed to research and write summaries for nearly 500 ethical businesses! She brought further to light how we can live with less dependency on money and banking systems, how we can use gift economies, a new donation model, what real ethics aligned with nature is, the true histories of this planet and more.

Carina has lived for many years without a bank account or phone, engaged very minimally with financial systems, travelled to many parts of the world, and lived in deep trust and communion with herself and nature to receive what it is she needs. She has contributed many posts onto the blog inspiring others with her experiences and findings.

You won’t be forgotten Carina! We hope to continue what you have started.

Owen Hanner

Owen is Kate’s partner and a grounded presence behind SunBeings. Both highly creative and logical, with a gift for words, an eye for beauty, and an artistic soul. With his keen eye and a good overview of what’s in alignment, Owen gives feedback, helps with writing and streamlines the content.

He is a gifted musician who can play many instruments, often capturing those who happen to come across his live, dynamic improvisations, and the magic that happens when he gets together with other musicians. A treat for the ears and those who are willing to dream – which fulfils his sense of purpose as his music contains messages of his dream of the new world. Owen’s music has often been his key to opening doors in his life… including in bringing Kate to him. He has had his music included in some of the SunBeings videos.

As a video editor, he is excellent at creating dreamy worlds bursting with freedom, colour and natures dance through his videos he attaches with his music.

Highly creative at whatever he applies himself to, he leans towards creating complex layers to his creative projects with a high attention to detail, that reveals more subtleties when one looks deeper. It reflects his feeling and sensitivity for the intricacies in life.

Owen has a deep sense of love and beauty and lives in deep communion with it. With that, Kate and Owen share an adventurous life together that has provided a driving spark behind SunBeings. They have dived deep into exploring what following nature and a new earth looks like… this can be both a painful and joyful process, and one of deep growth, that helps to ignite this platform. Thank you to Owen for the flame and loving support!

Kate Priestley

Kate is an original co-founder and the current coordinator of SunBeings providing much of the foundation and is the designer. Bouncing around with creative ideas, listening to others’ ideas, she has a way to ground them into the physical.

She is a passionate multi-disciplinary creative, and she treats this platform as a creative outlet, to make a space where people can commune and share themselves. Kate loves to nurture others’ gifts and help bring them out into the world. She likes to share the good and the innovative and has a natural passion for community.

An adventurous and playful spirit who likes to push the usual boundaries of the known. Through answering nature’s calls, she has found life to reward her in ways often very unexpected. Discomforts and challenges are often met, but they provide doorways into her own understanding of herself and life – they become something else in her eyes. As a storyteller, she is enthusiastic about sharing her experiences with others in case it may benefit another.

She also is a painter, illustrator and photographer. Her works are often highly expressive with an explosion of colour and play.

Kate has long been interested in projects that bring about change or have a positive impact on the world. Since a young age, she has liked to combine art and social engagement. Now all her interests come together in running SunBeings, and growing its community platform for all of us.

Nixi “No fixed thing” Cole

Coordinator, Coach, Creative and Champion of whole hearted projects and creatives. Nixi offers her gifts as a writer, editor, group holder, artist and art curator. She also loves being in a garden and growing things.

Nixi has a passion and strength for recognising and nurturing gifts in people, places and projects. She is empathic, intuitive, enthusiastic and dynamic in nature, naturally uplifting and energising in many of her offerings. Making connections across the physical and non-physical and encouraging our full and true expression.

Wonderful at coaching, mentoring and holding a safe space, she is gifted in seeing and expanding possibilities with a great sense of joy, play and creativity that pushes on our usual boundaries of imagination.

She has been helping behind the scenes at SunBeings for a little while supporting Kate and Owen and the wider field of the platform and its potentials, coming up with fun ideas, gently questioning, feeling and finding possibilities.

She loves playing with words, pens and fabric and hopes some of this will find its way on to SunBeings offerings too.

Nixi has a free and bright spirit, with extremely sensitive sensors for all subtleties of life. She is connected to the vastness of the universe and yet deeply grounded and anchored in nature. She moves fluidly between energetic, emotional and practical levels, integrating it all with humility and humour.

Nixi is full of magic, joy and love, while also not scared to sense and feel what’s uncomfortable, painful, or unfamiliar. Her curious and listening nature have carried her to many places and experiences and she has been nomadic for over two years.

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