A thematic review on traditional handicraft from design perspective publications from 2002–2022: analysis of trends for future studies

Abstract

Traditional handicraft sector become a new mechanism for sustainable development, employment opportunities, and economic growth in rural areas of China. To find out current issues and trends of Chinese traditional handicraft product development, a systematic study is required to analyze the state-of-art of topic under investigation. Secondary data through literature review is used to obtain data in Scopus database from 2002 to 2022 by using the Citespace visualization software. Bibliometric analysis focus on annual number of articles, journals, authors’ cooperation, issuing institutions and keywords to explore an information. The results indicated that the Chinese traditional handicraft product has been highlighted as most significant topic discussing by scholars and researchers since few years ago. Specific topic of study divided into three stages: slow start, fluctuating growth and rapid development. The specific topic rise on issue such as sustainability, innovation, employment, and perceptions. Furthermore, the research directions can be acknowledged in theoretical concepts and methodological model. Based on these findings, this study further discusses the potential impact on the management level.

Keywords:

• Traditional handicrafts
• thematic review
• Citespace
• research hotspots
• visual analysis

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Timothy Clack, School of Anthropology & Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford, United Kingdom; Ceri Houlbrook, History, University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom

SUBJECTS:

• Cultural Heritage; Culture; Heritage Management & Conservation; Visual Arts; Design

1. Introduction

Handicrafts are not only a symbol of regional characteristics but a link between the past and the future, reflecting the crystallization of people’s wisdom and creativity (Li et al., 2019). The traditional handicraft sector plays an important role in society. It is not only an important cultural heritage of a country, but also contributes to the economy and employment, especially in rural areas. According to USAID’s (U.S. Agency for International Development) , handicrafts are part of a larger home accessories market. It includes handcrafted, semi-handcrafted, and machine-made goods, and the home accessories market is strongly influenced by fashion trends, consumer buying patterns, and economic conditions in end markets. The value of handicrafts is appreciated mainly due to the quality of handmade products and the consumption habits of customers (Mazur-Kajta, 2020). Due to the rapid development through modern science and technology as well as globalization, the traditional handicrafts are facing increasingly serious challenges, and many traditional skills are gradually being marginalized and even on the verge of being lost. Recently, many scholars and researchers became responsive to protect and revitalize the handicraft product specially on traditional handicrafts product. Successive formulated policy and revitalization strategies is needed to support and ensure the transmission and continuation of this valuable heritage is protected and preserved (Väänänen & Pöllänen, 2020).

The research objective of this paper is from the perspective of bibliometric visualisation and based on the Scopus database, to conduct a systematic graphical quantitative analysis mainly on the traditional handicrafts literature published in the past 20 years. Through careful reading of a large amount of literature, it focuses on reviewing the current development history and research hotspots of traditional handicrafts and, in conjunction with the current status of research, it looks forward to the direction of the future research on traditional handicrafts. This study is of great significance in advancing the research process of traditional handicrafts.

2. Literature review

In China, traditional handicraft product has been threatened by rapid industrialization and urbanization. Handicraft crafts are currently experiencing the so-called ‘third wave’ (Mignosa & Kotipalli, 2019). In December 2018, 40 Chinese folk arts and crafts were listed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List, and 3,152 examples in 10 categories were added to the national list. Under the 2017 Revitalization Plan for Traditional Chinese Crafts, the Chinese government provides guidance on how traditional crafts can be integrated into modern society. The plan encourages the inheritance and revitalization of traditional handicrafts as an important means of increasing local employment, promoting income, and alleviating poverty (The Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China, 2017). The development of folk crafts, especially in less developed areas of rural China, is also seen as an important means of economic empowerment and poverty reduction (MCTPRC, 2018). Then, in recent years, more and more Chinese designers are involved in the reform and innovation of traditional Chinese handicrafts, i.e. they design and develop new products in combination with Chinese culture. As an overall feature of traditional Chinese culture, the idea of ‘the unity of heaven and man’ emphasizes the interrelationship and inseparability of humans and nature, which has also influenced traditional Chinese creative thinking (Qian et al., 2020).

The revitalization of traditional crafts has drawn considerable interest from all spheres of society ever since China’s Traditional Crafts Revitalization Plan was formally released in 2017. The four batches of 1,372 representative national intangible cultural heritage project listings, which the State Council announced, include a total of more than 300 traditional craft projects. Traditional crafts are characterized by their creative manual labor and material-specific, individualized creation, which cannot be achieved through industrial production (Strohmayer, 2021). The Chinese Traditional Crafts Revitalization Programme has been actively carried out in numerous places since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), effectively conserving traditional craft projects. In areas of poverty, more than 1,100 workshops for intangible cultural assets have been developed, giving locals chances to boost their income and employment (The Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China, 2017). 2022 The Circular on Promoting the High-Quality Inheritance and Development of Traditional Crafts, which was jointly released by ten Chinese ministries including the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Science and Technology, aims to encourage the creative transformation and innovative development of traditional crafts to better serve economic and social development and the high quality of people’s lives. This project is thought to be a crucial step in encouraging the growth of traditional craft inheritance and giving old crafts new life (The Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China, 2022). According to the Circular, by 2025, the mechanisms for high-quality inheritance and development of traditional crafts will be continuously improved, and they will also help to foster traditional cultural industries, rural revitalization, and high-quality economic and social development.

Technological development has brought about an abundance of material products, and the rise of the new middle class in China’s cities has driven the upgrading of consumption. It has regained its market as a cultural symbol because of its cultural symbolic value, especially because it fits the current aesthetic style and cultural consumption fashion. Unlike the industrial era when people pursued the production efficiency of products too much, the trend of people attaching importance to sensory pleasure and aesthetic experience has gradually expanded and spread. Today, consumer experience has become an important way of handicraft moving forward. For a long time, gifts were the label of handicrafts, but now the hobby of consumer groups has become the first purchasing power and experiencing handicrafts has become a way of leisure and personality pursuit for urban people. This type of consumption is characterized by the fact that consumers experience. The pleasure brought by the handicraft is more important to consumers (Teng & Xu, 2022).

The intersection of traditional handicrafts product with the contemporary challenges and preservation efforts underscores their intricate position in a swiftly evolving world. The juxtaposition of rich historical legacy and current socio-economic realities amplifies the significance of studying and understanding traditional handicrafts. Despite the problems and challenges in the development of Chinese traditional handicrafts, the study needs identify the issue and development trends of Chinese traditional handicraft product to strengthen cultural preservation and revitalize as well as toward marketability.

3. Material and method

The study adopts a bibliometric method, based on the Scopus database to quantitatively mapping of traditional handicrafts literature published in the past 20 years until recent. Through careful reading of a large amount of literature, it focuses on reviewing the issue and trend development of Chinese traditional handicrafts product and looking forward to the future direction and strategy. This study is of great significance in advancing the research process of Chinese traditional handicrafts product.

3.1. Collection and compilation

This study mainly focuses on the published literature related to traditional handicrafts, and the main source of these data is Scopus. In the Scopus database, the theme is set as ‘Traditional handicraft’, and the year range of the search is from 2002 to 2022, and a total of 807 articles are searched. 807 articles, as 284 were removed because they were not journal articles, in addition, non-English language literature was excluded (n = 16), and the meaningless category was subtracted (n = 32), so that 369 pieces of valid data were left in the end (Figure 1). The collection date was July 19, 2023. Finally, the valid data were imported into Citespace for scientific statistical and econometric analysis.

Figure 1. The process of thematic review.

3.2. Citespace analysis

Citespace is a Java-based scientific literature analysis tool developed by Prof. Chao-Mei Chen’s team at Rexall University. It is capable of bibliometric analysis of the literature in a specific field and visualizing the development of the field in the form of visualized knowledge graphs that intuitively show the development of the field’s veins and laws. Through Citespace, researchers can explore the cutting-edge research direction of the discipline and future research trends. As a result, it has become one of the current favorite tools for scholars to map knowledge. In this study, taking traditional handicrafts as the research entry point, bibliometrics, information visualization and content analysis were used to draw a knowledge map related to traditional handicrafts by statistically analyzing the literature through Citespace 6.2.R2, a visualization tool. The hotspots, overall research status and future development trends of traditional handicrafts research in the past 20 years were summarized through the analysis of literature issuance volume, source journals, author partnerships, institutions, and keywords.

3.3. Citespace parameter settings

Scopus literature data were compiled and imported into the Citesapce database. The thresholds of each parameter were set as follows: in ‘TimeSlicing’, the study year was set from January 2002 to December 2022; and in ‘YearsperSlice’, the value was set to 1 (set to every 1 year); In ‘Pruning’, select ‘Pathfinder’ and ‘Pruning the merged network’, and check the box of ‘Keywords’. The other parameters are default options. In the node data, the larger the selected N value, the more comprehensive the generated network will be. In this study, the selection criterion is set as ‘TopN = 50’, in each TimeSlice, 50 documents with high citation counts are extracted, and 369 documents are obtained after the conversion of Scopus format.

4. Data analysis and results

4.1. Analysis of the annual volume of publications

The annual publication volume can reflect the research history and development trend of the field to a certain extent, so as to sort out the development of the discipline’s lineage (Wang & Lu, 2020). Figure 2 shows the trend of change in the number of articles related to traditional handicrafts indexed by Scopus over the past 20 years. The characteristics of the change in the curve of the number of articles can be used to specifically categorize the research on traditional handicrafts into the following three stages of development, as shown in Table 1.

Figure 2. Trends in the number of traditional crafts papers published by year, 2002–2022.

Table 1. Analysis of the overall stage of development of traditional handicrafts in the last 20 years.

Stage name	Starting time/year	Number of publications/articles	Duration/year	Stage Characteristics
Slow start period	2002-2006	2-6	4	Volume of publications remained stable
Period of fluctuating growth	2007-2017	11-22	10	Fluctuating growth in the number of articles issued
Rapid development period	2018-2022	16-59	4	Rapid growth in the number of articles issued

Period 1: Slow start (2002–2006). The number of articles published in this period tends to be stable and relatively small, with the annual number of articles being around 5. The main reason is that during this period is the exploratory stage of traditional handicrafts protection, in which academics may not have sufficient knowledge of and attention to traditional handicrafts, resulting in relatively few related studies. Traditional crafts are regarded as part of cultural heritage, and academic research on cultural heritage is sometimes suppressed by other popular disciplines (Wondirad et al., 2020). Secondly, the period 2002-2006 coincided with a period of rapid social development and modernization, and traditional crafts may have been subject to the impact of modernization. People may have paid more attention to emerging technological and cultural trends and neglected the value of traditional handicrafts. Although the research results of scholars in this period only appeared sporadically, they created new perspectives and laid a good foundation for the development of traditional handicrafts in the later period.

Period 2: Fluctuating growth period (2007–2017). The number of articles in this period fluctuates and grows and lasts for a longer period, with an average of about 16 articles per year. The main reason for the growth in the number of articles on traditional handicrafts in this phase is the society’s re-cognition and attention to the value of traditional culture, and the active promotion of cultural heritage protection policies. Scholars believe that traditional handicrafts, as intangible cultural heritage, carry rich historical and cultural connotations, and their protection and inheritance is the common responsibility of the state and society. Traditional handicrafts still have vitality in modern society, but they need to adapt to the needs of the times, undergo modern transformation, maintain their traditional characteristics while integrating them with contemporary aesthetics and market demands, and realize sustainable development (Fois et al., 2019). In summary, the number of publications on traditional handicrafts showed a fluctuating growth trend from 2007 to 2017, which was mainly influenced by the improvement of academic cognition, the promotion of cultural heritage protection policies, the increase of social attention, and the development of emerging disciplines. Scholars believe that traditional handicrafts have important cultural value and potential for sustainable development and need to receive more research and attention. At this stage, based on the joint efforts of the government, academia and all sectors of society, the protection of traditional handicrafts has been strengthened and the development of traditional handicrafts research has been accelerated.

Period 3: Rapid development period (2018–2022). This period is characterized by rapid and continuous growth in the number of articles, which belongs to a state of stepwise growth relative to the previous two periods, with the annual number of articles in as many as 37. In recent years, people’s awareness of the inheritance and protection of traditional culture has gradually increased. In the context of globalization, traditional handicrafts are regarded as an important cultural resource that needs to be protected and inherited. Scholars realize the important role of traditional handicrafts research for cultural inheritance and protection, so they invest more time and energy in related research. During this period, traditional handicrafts began to receive more attention from the public and the media. The rise of several cultural festivals, handicraft exhibitions and traditional crafts markets made traditional handicrafts a popular cultural consumer product. This increased social attention also stimulated scholars’ interest in researching traditional handicrafts. With the development of the Internet and information technology, scholars can more easily access and exchange research results. The expansion of academic communication platforms has led to more exposure and recognition of traditional crafts research, thus attracting more scholars to participate in it. During this period, traditional handicrafts began to become a popular topic for interdisciplinary research. Scholars started from the perspective of different disciplines, such as anthropology, sociology, art history, etc., to discuss the history, skill inheritance, cultural symbols, etc. of traditional handicrafts, which enriched the level and depth of the research on traditional handicrafts (Mehra et al., 2019). To summarize, the number of articles on traditional handicrafts shows a rapid development trend from 2018 to 2022, which is mainly influenced by the enhancement of the awareness of cultural inheritance and protection, the increase of social concern, the technological progress, and the expansion of dissemination channels, as well as the rise of interdisciplinary research. Scholars generally believe that traditional handicrafts have important cultural value and practical significance, and their research and protection need more attention and support.

4.2. Analysis of authors and institutions

The author collaboration network mapping of the traditional crafts literature over the last 20 years was generated in the Citespace tool and is shown in Figure 3. The color between nodes and connecting lines corresponds to the time of the collaboration, from grey to red in order from 2002 to 2022. The size of the nodes responds to the frequency of the author’s publications, with larger nodes indicating more publications by that author and vice versa. The connecting line between nodes reacts to the closeness of cooperation between authors in posting, the wider the connecting line indicates the stronger the connection between authors, and vice versa (Yan & Li, 2023). In recent years, authors studying traditional handicrafts have mostly cooperated in the form of teams, and they have formed a preliminary scale. At present, the more influential ones are mainly research teams centered on Shafi,M, Yang,Y, Galeano, G, Albuquerque, Mortazavi and others. There are also many scholars who are working independently on their own on issues related to the field of traditional handicrafts.

Figure 3. Author collaboration mapping.

Table 2 shows the top ten research institutions in terms of the number of publications related to traditional handicrafts. The top three in terms of number of publications are Mahasarakham University, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, and Chinese Academy of Sciences. Each institution has 14, 20, and 30 scholars involved in the field from 2002–2022, respectively, and all of them have published their outstanding research results in prestigious journals. Overall, the issuing institutions of traditional handicrafts are mainly universities and research institutes, and these high-level research institutions provide research quality and assurance. However, after further analysis, it is found that the research on traditional handicrafts is mainly concentrated in the art design or college of arts of each university, and traditional handicrafts need a multidisciplinary cross-fertilization of research themes if they are to adapt to the development of the current society. According to Figure 4, the country with the largest number of articles is India, with about more than 65 articles per year. It is closely followed by China with more than 55 articles per year.

Figure 4. Top 10 countries in terms of publications.

Table 2. Top 10 organizations in terms of publications.

No	Name of institution	Volume of publications
1	Mahasarakham University	6
2	National Yunlin University of Science and Techenology	6
3	Chinese Academy of Science	6
4	Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco	4
5	Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi	4
6	Sichuan University	4
7	Kunming Institute of Botany Chinese Academy of Sciences	4
8	Pontificia Universidad Javeriana	4
9	Universidad Nacional de Colombia	4
10	Kazan Federal University	4

4.3. Keyword analysis

Keywords are a collection of names describing the overall content or important information of an article (Chen et al., 2022), which is not only the core vocabulary of an article but also a highly condensed and summarized version of an article. If a particular keyword appears in a high frequency in a certain field, it can reflect the research hotspot of the research field to a certain extent (Su et al., 2019). In this paper, we will further explore the research hotspots and research directions of traditional handicrafts by analyzing indicators such as frequency and clustering of keywords. Using the Citespace tool, change the NodeTypes from ‘Author’ to ‘Keyword’ and keep the other values unchanged. The keyword co-occurrence map (see Figure 5) and high-frequency keyword statistics (see Table 3) were obtained for traditional handicrafts.

Figure 5. Traditional crafts keyword co-occurrence mapping.

Table 3. Traditional crafts keyword frequency statistics.

No	Count	Centrality	Year	Keywords	No	Count	Centrality	Year	Keywords
1	114	0.13	2002	Traditional handicraft	11	14	0.04	2007	Dyeing process
2	72	0.26	2002	Ecosystem services	12	13	0.13	2005	Artificial intelligence
3	72	0.12	2004	Globalization	13	12	0.01	2005	Manufacturing process
4	54	0.03	2009	Traditional knowledge	14	11	0.34	2006	Chemical analysis
5	45	0.31	2004	Employment	15	9	0.13	2009	Conservation
6	26	0.18	2006	Commercialization	16	7	0.03	2002	Economy
7	23	0.13	2004	Sustainability	17	6	0	2006	Tourism
8	21	0.13	2003	Perceptions	18	4	0.01	2011	Development sector
9	16	0.13	2011	Cultural heritage	19	4	0.02	2004	Craft production
10	16	0.09	2008	Innovation	20	3	0.01	2005	Competitiveness

The higher the frequency of the keywords, the larger the area of the nodes, and the connecting lines represent the relationship between the keywords. As can be seen from Figure 5, there are 511 keywords (N = 511) in the field of traditional handicrafts research; there are 1230 connecting lines (E = 1230) between each keyword; and the network density is 0.0094 (Density = 0.0094). According to the starting year of the keywords, traditional handicrafts were in the period of conservation exploration in 2002. After statistics, the keywords with higher frequency after removing ‘traditional handicrafts’ are: ‘Ecosystem services’ ‘Globalization’, ‘Employment’, ‘Commercialization’, ‘Sustainability’, ‘Sustainability’, ‘Perceptions’, ‘Innovation’, etc. These are also the hotspots of traditional crafts research fields.

4.4. Cluster analysis of traditional handicraft keywords

Based on the keyword co-occurrence map, select ‘All in one: clustering, optimizing layout and style’ and ‘Label clusters with indexing terms’ to form a keyword clustering map about traditional handicrafts, see Figure 6.

Figure 6. Traditional crafts keyword cluster mapping.

Through the keyword cluster mapping, it is found that the research on traditional handicraft is closely centered on Inheritance and innovation, Digital fabrication, Computer aided design, Sustainability and so on, among which ‘ traditional handicraft’ has the highest attention, with a frequency of 114, which is analyzed through the timeline clustering of keywords (see Figure 7). Production methods, purchase intention, aesthetic concepts, behavioral research, etc. are the themes of research in recent years.

Figure 7. Keywords timeline cluster mapping.

4.5. Keywords brust analysis

Bursts are keywords that appear frequently over a period and are related to a specific topic. Burst words are important in academic research because they reflect the research hotspots and trends in a particular topic or field. By analyzing bursts, researchers can gain insights into the latest developments and cutting-edge trends in the field (Wang & Lu, 2020). The research on traditional handicrafts received a total of 22 bursts (see Figure 8), which clearly presents the research frontiers in the field of traditional handicrafts. From the point of view of the intensity of bursts, the keyword ‘Employment’ shows a relatively high degree of bursts, as high as 8.17, which makes it a more influential research frontier. In terms of burst time, the keyword ‘Craft production’ appears the earliest, and the bursts of sustainability, innovation, employment, and perceptions have continued from the beginning to the present, and are still increasing, which indicates that traditional crafts have become the most influential research frontiers. This indicates that the focus of traditional crafts research is becoming clearer, and some specific research has already been carried out.

Figure 8. Bursts keywords of traditional handicraft.

This field focuses on the following groups: Augmented reality, Art computing, Commercial products, SWOT analysis, Database. According to the Timezone View function in Citespace, we can get the Timezone of the keyword clustering about traditional handicrafts distribution area, see Figure 9.

Figure 9. Traditional crafts keywords timezone mapping.

The year where the node is in the graph is the first research year of the keyword, and the same keyword will be superimposed with a connecting line when it appears repeatedly in the future, and the size of the node reacts to the frequency of the keyword appearance. According to the time zone distribution map of keywords, we can clearly see the year of the first appearance of each type of keywords, and analyze the research hotspots and characteristics of different years as well as the evolution of the whole research period (Zou et al., 2022). The keyword cluster analysis can be used to classify the research on traditional handicrafts in the last 20 years into the following 2 main directions:

1. Theoretical Concept Category - refers to the relevant theories, concepts and academic frameworks involved in the study of traditional handicrafts. Research in this direction focuses on the theoretical foundation, cultural connotation, historical origin, and value perception of traditional handicrafts. Scholars explore the significance and characteristics of traditional handicrafts by exploring relevant theories and concepts to deepen their understanding of traditional handicrafts.

   In the category of theoretical concepts, scholars explore some of the following key elements:

• Definition and characteristics of traditional handicrafts: scholars will define the concept of traditional handicrafts and study their unique characteristics and cultural attributes that distinguish them from other crafts and art forms (Mehra et al., 2019).

• Cultural Signs and Symbolism: Traditional handicrafts often contain profound cultural signs and symbolism, and scholars will explore the cultural connotations and national spirit behind traditional handicrafts. (Walker et al., 2019).

• Inheritance and innovation: In their research, scholars will reflect on the inheritance and innovation of traditional handicrafts, exploring how to preserve traditional skills while innovating with the times (Wondirad et al., 2020).

• Traditional crafts and contemporary society: this part of the study will focus on the status and development of traditional crafts in contemporary society and their impact on modern society and culture (Hassan et al., 2017).

• In general, the category of theoretical concepts is an important direction of traditional handicrafts research in the past 20 years, and its research content mainly involves the theoretical foundation, cultural connotation, historical origin, and value cognition of traditional handicrafts. Scholars have enriched the theoretical framework of traditional handicrafts research and deepened their knowledge and understanding of traditional handicrafts by exploring related theories and concepts.

1. Methodology model category - The research of this methodology mainly explores and sorts out the protection methods, design models and design principles of traditional handicrafts, mainly including keywords such as sustainable design, conceptual design, branding design, virtual reality technology, co-design and so on. Scholars’ research on the protection methods of traditional handicrafts mainly focuses on the period after 2012, including strategy process design, thinking model, evaluation system and method exploration. In terms of research methods: the protection of traditional handicrafts mainly focuses on data collection and the use of protection strategies in the research process, see Figure 10 for specific research methods, which can help designers gain a better insight into the direction of the protection of traditional handicrafts, thus improving the quality of protection, and then identifying the design opportunity points for subsequent implementation.

Figure 10. Main research methods in traditional crafts.

5. Discussion

5.1. Prediction

Traditional handicrafts have been a hot research topic in recent years, and its main concept is to provide support for the protection and development of intangible cultural heritage effectively through the rational organization of resources such as culture, skills, design, and communication. The rapid development of social economy and science and technology provides opportunities for the inheritance of traditional handicrafts and puts forward new requirements for the research of traditional handicrafts. Based on this, this paper synthesizes the above bibliometric analysis and the political, economic, and socio-cultural environmental factors, and predicts that the development trend of traditional handicrafts will unfold in five aspects, namely, technological innovation, scientific research targets, research fields, content orientation, and education and cultivation in Figure 11.

Figure 11. Prediction of trend in traditional handicrafts.

5.2. Managerial implications

Over the past two decades, there has been a considerable evolution in the management of traditional crafts as a component of cultural heritage and the creative industries, which has had a significant impact on the growth of the industry. The following perspectives on the impact of management are summarized in light of the study’s findings:

1. Policy support and cultural protection: To save and develop traditional crafts, the Chinese government has adopted a number of policy measures. Regulations for the preservation of cultural heritage, financial assistance, and initiatives to promote cultural innovation are a few of these. In addition to providing a legal foundation and financial assistance for the administration of traditional crafts, the implementation of these policies has had a favorable impact on the transmission and growth of traditional crafts.

2. Innovative management techniques: Management techniques have also changed in the traditional crafts sector. Modern management techniques and technologies are being adopted by more and more traditional craft businesses to boost output, quality assurance, and marketing. To better satisfy the expectations of the current market, several businesses, for instance, have implemented digitalized procedures and e-commerce platforms (Yadav et al., 2021).

3. Cultural branding: The brand image of traditional crafts has been significantly shaped by management. Traditional artisan products are helped to blend into the modern market and draw in more customers through careful brand storytelling, design, and packaging. Achieving such cultural branding is necessary to raise the value added to products and market share (McNally et al., 2016).

4. Market positioning and internationalization: Both domestic and foreign markets offer a wide range of prospects for traditional craft products. Managers must create strategies for positioning, pricing, and marketing that may be tailored to various markets. The issues of quality standards, intellectual property rights, and cross-cultural communication must also be faced by managers as a result of internationalization.

5. Technology transfer and transmission: Managers must play a crucial part in the dissemination of traditional craft skills. To ensure that these priceless abilities are not lost, they must create training programs and plans for the transfer and maintenance of traditional skills.

Overall, management is crucial to the traditional crafts sector and affects the industry’s viability and competitiveness. Future studies could examine the effects of various management strategies on the traditional crafts industry in greater detail and offer specific management advice to foster growth and innovation in this key field.

6. Conclusion

The protection and development of traditional handicrafts is a long-term and important process, but the development of modern science and technology and the support of related policies provide new development directions and opportunities for the development of traditional handicrafts. In this paper, through systematic analysis of journal literature related to traditional handicrafts included in Scopus database in the past 20 years, using the method of information visualization, clarifying the development of traditional handicrafts, research hotspots and development trends from six perspectives, and also summarizes the views of management significance. This paper provides some reference and enlightenment for the follow-up research of traditional handicrafts from the aspects of the number of articles, journal sources, authors, research institutions and keywords. The first is the significance of cultural heritage: Traditional handicrafts are a significant component of cultural heritage and have priceless historical and cultural worth. Support from public policy and initiatives for cultural preservation are essential to the long-term growth of the traditional crafts sector and aid in preserving and transmitting this priceless cultural legacy. The integration of modern management methods is the second aspect; traditional handcraft enterprises are gradually adopting these approaches, which include branding, e-commerce, and digitalized craft processes. These businesses are more competitive and able to adapt to the quickly shifting market needs because to this integration. The third is the influence of cultural branding: management plays a major part in the traditional crafts sector as they successfully sell traditional craft products by creating brand narratives and imagery. In addition to raising the added value of the product, cultural branding draws in a wider range of customers. The fourth is the chance presented by the global market: traditional handicrafts have enormous potential there. Managers must create an internationalization strategy to overcome cultural differences and guarantee that their goods are acknowledged throughout the world. The issue of skills transmission is a significant one in the traditional crafts industry, and it is the final challenge. Managers must take action to guarantee that knowledge is transmitted while protecting and fostering this distinctive cultural legacy.

However, the results of this study still have shortcomings. On the one hand, this paper selects some high-quality literature in the Scopus database as the source of data, therefore, the collected data have certain limitations. On the other hand, the knowledge background of the researchers will affect the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data to a certain extent, and experts in the related fields need to corroborate and improve the results in future studies. It is hoped that this paper can help scholars understand the status and development of traditional handicrafts and produce more excellent research results on traditional handicrafts in the future.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Haoran Liu

Liu Haoran, is a PhD student in the field of culture and design studying at Universiti Putra Malaysia. She is passionate about issues of preservation of traditional knowledge, the impact of design on cultural heritage and sustainability. Dedicated to promoting interdisciplinary research in order to facilitate communication and collaboration in the field of culture and design.

Hassan Alli

Associate Professor Ts. Dr. Hassan Alli, is a Senior lecturer at the Department of Industrial Design, Faculty of Design and Architecture, Universiti Putra Malaysia. His research efforts are to improve the current product design and development practices and focus on new product development.

Irwan Syah Md Yusoff

Dr. Irwan Syah Md. Yusoff, is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Resource Management and Consumer Studies, Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra Malaysia. His work focus on Product Design and Sustainability Design.