Cambodia: in Arey Ksat, grey sedge is reborn as export-ready handicrafts

Bags, hats, baskets, mats, table mats and cups: in Arey Ksat, Kandal province, Cambodian artisan enterprise Maya Handicrafts turns grey sedge, locally known as 'Chorjod', into pieces sold both at home and abroad.

Outside the Maya Handicrafts workshop, an artisan holds one of the shop's grey sedge bags. Photo: Lon Jadina / AKP

Grey sedge, a local material put to use

Chorjod, or grey sedge, is a local plant that Cambodian artisans have learned to turn into a wide range of everyday objects: bags, hats, baskets, mats, table mats, cups and many more. It is this simple yet versatile material that Maya Handicrafts, a Cambodian artisan enterprise based in Arey Ksat city, Kandal province, works with.

Maya Handicrafts, a craft rooted in Arey Ksat

Sitting just across the Mekong from Phnom Penh, Arey Ksat is where Maya Handicrafts shapes, piece by piece, objects known for their fine detail and creativity. It only became a city in its own right in December 2022 — previously part of Khsach Kandal and Lvea Aem districts — so while young as an administrative entity, it sits within a far older weaving tradition.

On social media, where the brand keeps an active account (@mayahandicraftscambodia), the enterprise describes itself simply: 'Maya and her teams create beautiful handmade crafts in Cambodia by Cambodians.' A reminder of the small, family-run scale of the operation, which takes orders directly through Telegram rather than through mass distribution.

A weaving region on the banks of the Mekong

Maya Handicrafts doesn't operate in isolation: the Arey Ksat area and nearby Silk Island (Koh Dach), directly opposite the capital, has long been a centre of Cambodian weaving, where silk and sedge are often worked side by side. Tuk-tuk tours through the area regularly stop at sedge mat-weaving workshops alongside silk workshops — a sign of a shared local know-how that extends well beyond any single business.

Two artisans hand-weave grey sedge at the Maya Handicrafts workshop in Arey Ksat. Photo: Lon Jadina / AKP

From local market to international export

For more than ten years, Maya Handicrafts' creations have found buyers on the Cambodian market. But their reach extends well beyond the country's borders: they are now exported to several international markets, including Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Switzerland and the United States, among other countries and regions.

It's a trajectory that reflects Cambodian handicraft's ability to combine traditional know-how with the demands of export markets, turning a simple local resource — grey sedge — into objects that are both useful and refined. Sedge weaving ranks, alongside silk and rattan, among the country's three major handicraft sectors: each is estimated to support around 5,000 active weavers nationwide, and Cambodia's handicraft sector as a whole is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 10.9% between 2022 and 2027, according to sector data published by DHL Cambodia. A favourable backdrop that, beyond Maya Handicrafts' own case, benefits Cambodian artisans more broadly as they look to export their work.

Instagram: instagram.com/mayahandicraftscambodia