This is the first of five illustrated books exploring a range of traditional arts and crafts practised worldwide. Packed with fascinating details about everything from bangles to baskets, coffee to carpets, lace-making to lavender growing, the book showcases the author's first-hand knowledge and infectious enthusiasm for the wonderful variety of products and techniques developed by centuries of human ingenuity. Whatever your favourite handicraft, you'll find it here or in the companion volumes; and once you open the book you won't be able to resist venturing into less familiar territory - and perhaps end by taking up a new hobby. With its wide geographical and historical scope, the book is also an ideal companion for the armchair or actual traveller and for anyone who loves to gather out-of-the-way information - anything from the life-cycle of the coffee tree to the best way to make a plaster mask. Basic work-or-exposure-related health information will be found in the 'Health issues' section in each chapter, which explains, and so helps to safeguard against, the risks associated with particular processes.