Eight States, Countless Crafts: A Beginner’s Guide to Northeast Indian Handicrafts

North East India is made up of eight states: Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. Together they’re home to hundreds of communities, each with its own language, festivals and craft traditions. Yet many of these crafts are still little known in the rest of India.

Here’s a short introduction to some of the region’s best-known crafts, state by state.

Assam: silk and the gamosa

Assam is famous for its silks, especially Muga, a naturally golden silk found almost nowhere else in the world, along with Pat silk and the warm, soft Eri silk. The gamosa, a white cotton cloth with red woven borders, is a symbol of Assamese identity and respect, often offered to welcome guests.

Manipur: pottery and handloom

Manipur’s Longpi pottery, made by the Tangkhul Naga community, is shaped by hand from a mix of black stone and clay, without a potter’s wheel. Its striking black cookware and serving pieces are now popular in modern kitchens. Manipur is also known for handloom weaves such as Moirang Phee, with its distinctive temple-shaped border.

Nagaland: bold tribal shawls

Each Naga tribe has its own shawl designs, woven on traditional loin looms in bold reds, blacks and whites. Patterns and colours can show a person’s tribe and social standing, which makes every shawl a piece of living history.

Meghalaya and Tripura: cane and bamboo

Bamboo and cane grow abundantly across the Northeast, and craftspeople in Meghalaya and Tripura turn them into baskets, mats, furniture, lamps and décor. Bamboo is fast-growing and renewable, which makes these crafts a naturally sustainable choice for the home.

Mizoram: the puan

The puan is Mizoram’s traditional wrap-around cloth, woven in vibrant stripes and intricate patterns. Different puan designs are worn for everyday life, festivals and special ceremonies.

Arunachal Pradesh: Monpa handmade paper

In the Tawang region, the Monpa community makes paper by hand from the bark of the local shugu sheng tree, a tradition more than a thousand years old. It was historically used for Buddhist scriptures and prayer flags.

Sikkim: thangka and carpets

Sikkim’s Buddhist heritage shows in its thangka paintings, detailed religious artworks on cloth, and in its hand-knotted carpets featuring dragons, lotuses and other traditional motifs.

Why buy Northeast crafts?

• Every piece is unique. Handmade work has small variations that factory products don’t.
• You support real livelihoods. Buying directly helps artisans and their communities keep these skills alive.
• Many are naturally sustainable. They often use local materials like bamboo, cane, natural silk and clay.

We’re building our Made in Northeast collection to bring products like these to homes across India. Are you an artisan or brand from the region? We’d love to hear from you.