Bhutan’s 13 traditional arts and crafts, commonly known as zorig chusum, encompass all aspects of traditional arts starting from painting, wood craft, and metallurgy and sculpting among others. The existence of crude materials like natural dyes and typical carving tools stands a testimony to our country’s long and rich history in this field.
But most of our artistic themes revolve around Buddhism and one would be surprise to not find any credits and name of the creator or the painter as it is inappropriate in Buddhist sense. Nonetheless, the finished products are great pieces of art and craftsmanship as it is believed that the creator will gain good merit from the work.
The traditional school of arts and crafts in Thimphu is a fine specimen of how ancient Bhutanese arts and crafts has evolved into a vibrant culture even to this day.