Crafting the Future: Cambodia and the Role of Traditional Craftsmanship in Contemporary Fashion
From Cambodia’s creative landscape to the BRICS+ Fashion Summit in Moscow, the conversation around heritage, craftsmanship and modern design is becoming increasingly important to fashion’s future.
Cambodia: a local heritage with an international conversation
Cambodia’s own textile and craft traditions form part of a broader cultural identity that contemporary designers and creative practitioners can interpret for new audiences. The opportunity lies in creating a meaningful relationship between inherited knowledge and modern expression — one that respects the origins of a craft while allowing it to develop through new ideas, collaborations and forms of presentation.
For Phnom Penh Designers Week, this conversation connects fashion not only with presentation and visibility, but also with cultural continuity, creative development and the long-term value of Cambodia’s own design ecosystem.
With co-founder Don Protasio representing Phnom Penh Designers Week at the BRICS+ Fashion Summit in Moscow, Cambodia becomes part of a wider exchange about how fashion can support local identity while engaging with global developments. This participation matters beyond simply attending an international event: it creates a connection between Cambodia’s creative community and the questions shaping fashion elsewhere in the world.
“Cambodians need to use traditional crafts, but utilizing them in a contemporary fashion style… it needs to go beyond its cultural origins. For example, Dries Van Noten uses a lot of Indian traditional craft, but through the lens of fashion.
“There should be a support system both ways. Sometimes the artisans don’t understand the fashion system, and the fashion designers don’t understand how difficult it is for artisans to survive only on their handicraft. It’s a nuanced situation,” Don Protasio said.
His perspective grounds the international conversation in the experience and ambitions of the country’s own fashion community.
Fashion has always been more than what we wear. It carries histories, preserves cultural memory and gives communities a way to express who they are. Yet in an industry increasingly shaped by technology, changing consumer behaviour and the pressure to scale, one question remains particularly relevant: how can traditional craftsmanship continue to evolve without losing the knowledge and identity that make it valuable?
This question was among the subjects explored at the BRICS+ Fashion Summit, held in Moscow from 28 to 30 September alongside Moscow Fashion Week. Bringing together fashion professionals from Russia and more than 60 other countries, the international forum examined the forces shaping the industry, from emerging markets and new technologies to cultural heritage and the future of traditional crafts.
Among the Summit’s key discussions was the role of craftsmanship in contemporary design — not simply as a source of inspiration, but as a living practice with cultural, creative and economic significance.
Beyond the object: preserving the knowledge behind the craft
Traditional craftsmanship offers fashion something that technology alone cannot reproduce: a direct connection to place, history and human skill. Techniques developed and passed down through generations carry the knowledge of the people who practise them, reflecting the materials, aesthetics and cultural values of their communities.
At the Summit, the session “Traditional Crafts as Part of the Fashion Industry” explored how these practices can be preserved and developed, integrated into contemporary design and brought to international markets. Discussions also addressed the relationship between traditional craftsmanship and technology, the importance of education and international partnerships, and the economic sustainability of craft-based work.
As Rick Anderson, CEO of Mauritius Fashion Festival Week, observed during the Summit:
“Fashion is not just clothing. It is a combination of traditional crafts, history, antiques and painting. Fashion is much broader than simply what we can wear.”
His words capture a broader understanding of fashion — one in which the finished garment is only the visible result of a much deeper creative process.
When heritage becomes part of the future
The Summit’s wider programme reflected the growing relationship between cultural heritage and contemporary creative industries. One example was the Khokhloma x Russian Designers exhibition, which brought traditional Russian decorative craft into dialogue with contemporary design. Through collaborations with artists and designers, the project demonstrated how heritage techniques can inform not only clothing, but also accessories, furniture and jewellery.
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