The Shalnoy Orenburg Company at the 4th International Crafts Congress

This year the Shalnoy Orenburg company took part in the St Petersburg International Crafts Congress. It is officially part of the "Folk Art and Intangible Cultural Heritage" section. The congress is being held for the fourth time and is entirely devoted to preserving and developing folk crafts – the cultural heritage of the country.

The event lasted three days and covered all the topics most important for the development of crafts.

Day one: creative industries and crafts

The theme of the first day was "Creative industries, crafts and trades". It included a large plenary session on how to develop creative industries based on Russia's folk crafts, including how to integrate Russian folk styles into modern design. We note that such integration is already in full swing, and many exhibits confirm it.

Day two: international experience

The second day was devoted to "International cooperation and the world's best practices in developing creative industries". Russian participants talked and exchanged experience with colleagues from Europe and Asia, and the first Russian-Japanese forum on the creative economy was held.

Day three: young people and traditions

The theme of the third day has long concerned both the organisers and our company: "A new look at traditions: young people and the creative industries". They discussed how to attract young people to intangible values and folk traditions and how young people can build creative businesses based on folk crafts.

We consider the congress fruitful: it gave much food for thought and scope for work and creativity. On behalf of the Shalnoy Orenburg company, we thank the organisers – the Committee for Youth Policy and Interaction with Public Organisations, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.