Top 10 Malaysian Traditional Arts & Crafts in 2026

The royal textile of the Malay world, songket is a silk or cotton fabric supplementally woven with gold or silver thread in geometric patterns derived from centuries of court aesthetic tradition. Kelantan and Terengganu are its principal production centres, and a quality handwoven songket kain can require three months of weaving and command prices that reflect both the material cost and the extraordinary labour involved.

The ceremonial ikat textile of the Iban people, pua kumbu is woven by women on backstrap looms using a resist-dyeing technique that produces designs of extraordinary visual complexity — stylised crocodiles, serpents, and human figures rendered in rust, cream, and black that encode spiritual narratives of protection and transformation. The finest examples are among the most prized textiles in the world of indigenous art.

The Malay shadow puppet theatre tradition, predominantly practised in Kelantan and Terengganu, uses intricately carved water buffalo hide puppets to perform stories from the Hindu Ramayana and Mahabarata adapted into the Malay tradition. A single dalang puppet master may voice all characters, perform all manipulations, and direct the accompanying traditional orchestra through a performance lasting from dusk until dawn.

Royal Selangor in Kuala Lumpur is the world's largest pewter manufacturer and the pre-eminent exponent of Malaysian pewter craft — an industry established in the 1880s by Yong Koon and developed into a global luxury brand whose visitors can observe master craftsmen at work in the Visitor Centre and attempt their own pewter beating in the school of hard knocks workshop.

The keris — a distinctively asymmetric, wavy-bladed Malay dagger of extraordinary spiritual and social significance — is the most important artefact in Malay material culture and its production by a master empu bladesmith is a craft of the highest ceremonial status. The finest keris are forged from meteoritic iron and locally smelted steel in a process of intense heat, repeated folding, and symbolic consecration that can take months.

The indigenous communities of Sarawak produce rattan baskets, mats, and hats of extraordinary technical and artistic quality — the coiled and plaited forms of Orang Ulu and Penan weaving, using split rattan of different colours to create geometric patterns of surprising visual sophistication, represent a design tradition that commands international recognition in the contemporary craft and design world.

The royal weaving tradition of Pahang, established under the patronage of the Sultan of Pahang, produces silk and cotton fabric supplemented with gold thread in distinctively Pahang patterns that differ from the Kelantan and Terengganu songket in their colour palettes and compositional principles. The Pahang weaving centre in Pekan produces garments worn at royal functions and represents one of Malaysia's most prestigious traditional craft industries.

A Kelantanese group vocal and percussion performance tradition in which two competing teams of performers sit facing each other, chanting improvised verses in call-and-response format accompanied by frame drums and cymbals, dikir barat has evolved from a village entertainment form into a competitive performance art with national championships. It combines verbal wit, musical precision, and coordinated physical gesture in a form uniquely expressive of Malay east coast culture.

The gourd-shaped Labu Sayong water vessel from Kuala Kangsar, Perak — a black earthenware container whose particular clay composition is said to cool water naturally through evaporation — is one of Malaysia's most distinctive traditional craft forms. The Sayong pottery village near Kuala Kangsar is one of the few remaining communities where traditional Malaysian earthenware is still produced using hand-coiling and open-fire techniques.

The royal textile of the Malay world, songket is a silk or cotton fabric supplementally woven with gold or silver thread in geometric patterns derived from centuries of court aesthetic tradition. Kelantan and Terengganu are its principal production centres, and a quality handwoven songket kain can require three months of weaving and command prices that reflect both the material cost and the extraordinary labour involved.

The ceremonial ikat textile of the Iban people, pua kumbu is woven by women on backstrap looms using a resist-dyeing technique that produces designs of extraordinary visual complexity — stylised crocodiles, serpents, and human figures rendered in rust, cream, and black that encode spiritual narratives of protection and transformation. The finest examples are among the most prized textiles in the world of indigenous art.

The Malay shadow puppet theatre tradition, predominantly practised in Kelantan and Terengganu, uses intricately carved water buffalo hide puppets to perform stories from the Hindu Ramayana and Mahabarata adapted into the Malay tradition. A single dalang puppet master may voice all characters, perform all manipulations, and direct the accompanying traditional orchestra through a performance lasting from dusk until dawn.

Royal Selangor in Kuala Lumpur is the world's largest pewter manufacturer and the pre-eminent exponent of Malaysian pewter craft — an industry established in the 1880s by Yong Koon and developed into a global luxury brand whose visitors can observe master craftsmen at work in the Visitor Centre and attempt their own pewter beating in the school of hard knocks workshop.

The keris — a distinctively asymmetric, wavy-bladed Malay dagger of extraordinary spiritual and social significance — is the most important artefact in Malay material culture and its production by a master empu bladesmith is a craft of the highest ceremonial status. The finest keris are forged from meteoritic iron and locally smelted steel in a process of intense heat, repeated folding, and symbolic consecration that can take months.

The indigenous communities of Sarawak produce rattan baskets, mats, and hats of extraordinary technical and artistic quality — the coiled and plaited forms of Orang Ulu and Penan weaving, using split rattan of different colours to create geometric patterns of surprising visual sophistication, represent a design tradition that commands international recognition in the contemporary craft and design world.

The royal weaving tradition of Pahang, established under the patronage of the Sultan of Pahang, produces silk and cotton fabric supplemented with gold thread in distinctively Pahang patterns that differ from the Kelantan and Terengganu songket in their colour palettes and compositional principles. The Pahang weaving centre in Pekan produces garments worn at royal functions and represents one of Malaysia's most prestigious traditional craft industries.

A Kelantanese group vocal and percussion performance tradition in which two competing teams of performers sit facing each other, chanting improvised verses in call-and-response format accompanied by frame drums and cymbals, dikir barat has evolved from a village entertainment form into a competitive performance art with national championships. It combines verbal wit, musical precision, and coordinated physical gesture in a form uniquely expressive of Malay east coast culture.

The gourd-shaped Labu Sayong water vessel from Kuala Kangsar, Perak — a black earthenware container whose particular clay composition is said to cool water naturally through evaporation — is one of Malaysia's most distinctive traditional craft forms. The Sayong pottery village near Kuala Kangsar is one of the few remaining communities where traditional Malaysian earthenware is still produced using hand-coiling and open-fire techniques.