Malagasy crafts
Malagasy crafts
Malagasy crafts
Malagasy crafts
Of Real estate Madagascar
The arts and crafts are represented in Madagascar by:
– The embroidery: Madagascar is famous for its embroidered tablecloths.
– Marquetry: Inlaid wooden boxes or painting.
– The binding.
– The woodcarving:ThatisafieldwheretheMalagasyexcel.Thepetrolsofthetreeslend themselveswelltothesculpture: rosewood, ebony, purple wood…Wefindsat all:mask,chair,piece of furniture,reproductionofanimals,ofdecoration objects,painting,statuette…
– Raffia matting:constructionofobjectinraffia.
– Tablettery: the work of the horn and mother-of-pearl applied to the jewelry, covers, cups dices, pawns of games, pencil boxes, cases with glasses… Immense horns of the zebu – emblematic animal of Madagascar- offer a very fine matter of a large variety of colors going from black to clear amber. Its implementation by the tabletiers reminds another’s material, resulting from protected species by the convention of Washington, the scale of tortoise, still used but which it must replace completely. Mother-of-pearl is in abondance on the coasts in various species of shells sometimes of large dimensions.
– Lapidairery: the work of the hard stones. From the Sapphire to the marble, via the fossilized trees the island abounds in geological wonders. The semi-precious stones (topaz, amethyst, acute navy, garnet and tourmaline) and the “fine stones” or the slices of fossil tree, the ammonites, can be integrated into the jewellery and certain objects.
-The Malagasy traditional instrument is the valiha. Its body is in bamboo thus long and round, and 16 to 24 cords are tended around this bamboo. The valiha remains a sure object to bring back in its bags as souvenirs because it is the emblematic instrument of Madagascar.
The list of the Malagasy arts and crafts cannot be closed without quoting the jewellery (in particular the work of gold in filigree in north and west), the cast aluminium which after moulding and brushing lends itself for the use of bronze in decoration (town of Ambatolampy), the thick Antaimoro paper (manufactured starting from the bark of “Avoha”, boiled, crushed and smoothed on a fabric stretched within a frame, it then will be decorated by hand with petals of flower and sheets then dried under the sun) which includes in natural pulp flowers and stems laid out with art, carpets in mohair of the large south, models boats without forgetting the crafts of recovery where cans (of food, of concentrated milk, quills…) and another objects in metal are recovered and transformed in miniature planes, small cars, mini-bicycles or motorcycles, or in taxi-bush which is used as key-ring.
