From time to time, the global design world is reminded of something it already knows, that many of its most admired forms, motifs, and techniques come from traditions far older than the brands that present them.
Recently, a traditional craft appeared on a global runway. Recognition followed, but only after public scrutiny. The moment itself was familiar. What it revealed, once again, was not novelty, but a pattern where origin is often acknowledged late, if at all.
This is not about a single brand or incident.
It is about how heritage moves through the world.
Craft Is a System, Not a Surface
Traditional craft is often celebrated for its beauty - texture, form, a sense of timelessness. But craft is not simply visual language. It is a system of knowledge shaped by place, materials, ritual, repetition, and time.
When that system is reduced to an aesthetic reference, something essential is lost.
Craft holds economic value, cultural memory, and social continuity. When origins are unnamed, that value travels outward - admired, reproduced, and consumed without returning to the regions and traditions that sustained it. When origins are named, value has the possibility of circulating back.
This distinction matters.
Why Origin Still Matters in a Global Context
Acknowledging origin is not about borders. It is about authorship, responsibility, and respect. Traditional knowledge does not emerge in isolation. It is carried forward through practice - learned slowly, refined over generations, and maintained through use. When these practices enter global systems without context, they become detached from accountability.
Naming where something comes from changes the relationship. Appreciation becomes informed. Influence becomes dialogue rather than extraction. Consumption becomes participation rather than distance.
In a global economy, this shift is not symbolic. It affects livelihoods. It determines whether crafts continue as living practices or survive only as references.
Heritage Is Not Static
There is a persistent idea that heritage belongs to the past. In reality, heritage is active; it adapts, evolves, and continues when it is valued.
What is often overlooked is how familiarity leads to invisibility. Practices that are everyday within a culture can become “discoveries” elsewhere, stripped of context and history. What is borrowed without recognition is often what was most taken for granted at the source.
Paying attention to what already exists and valuing it where it comes from is not nostalgia. It is stewardship.
Toward a More Considered Way of Working
Engaging responsibly with heritage does not require perfection. It requires intention.
It begins with asking:
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Where did this come from?
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What lineage does it belong to?
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How does value return to its source?
Sometimes, acknowledging a region and its tradition is enough. Sometimes, it means working slower, in smaller quantities, with greater care. Often, it simply means refusing to treat culture as anonymous material.
Why This Matters to Us
At Marabu, we work with rituals, scents, and objects shaped by history; not as artifacts, but as living practices. We do not claim ownership over tradition. We recognise where it comes from and treat provenance as integral, not ornamental.
Not because it is timely. But because it is necessary. Heritage does not need to be rediscovered. It needs to be recognised.
And when recognition is given with clarity and respect, value has a way of returning; quietly, steadily to where it has always belonged.