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of Higuerito in Province Espaillat, Moca and the denomi-       hybrids, described as a ¨product that conserves features
nation of origin of Larimar which in this context must be      of identity, resulting from a mixture of techniques, materi-
underlined as “good practice” for the protection of one of     als, decorations and symbolic re-interpretations in objects
the most valuable raw materials the national crafts industry   made by way of artisan processes that combine aspects
has available to it.                                           of cultural dynamism and globalization, but do not attain
                                                               consolidation as community cultural products. One of the
     In order to separate crafts from other expressions it     principal characteristics is the mixture of elements arising
is important to pay attention to the details which are key     from different nature, of crafts as well as handicrafts, of
when we look at ”handicrafts”, which must be understood        such a quantity or in such manner that they do not belong
to be that object or product that is the result of a manual    now to any of them but rather form a new category. Yes, it is
or semi-industrialized process, starting with a processed or   likely that in some cases their evolutionary process comes
pre-fabricated raw material. The techniques, as well as the    to be transformed into an “artisans’ tradition” of a region or
activity itself, does not have a community cultural tradition  territory.
and are lost over time, becoming a temporary work marked
by what is fashionable and practiced on an individual or            This is a starting point that shows us this matrix of dif-
family level. Creativity in handiworks takes on important      ferentiation between crafts, handicrafts and hybrids, to cali-
aesthetic values in the domain of technical transformation     brate the compass and mark our paths, … to re-discover
and ornamentation, but these suffer from symbolic and          Dominican crafts without missing the port.
ideological values of the society creating them. The quality
of the handicrafts is as variable as the artisans: from very
simple to highly elaborated products insofar as the forms,
designs and decorations. Contrary to the artisan tradition,
handicrafts are governed by the present tense and tend
towards standardization of their production with the phe-
nomena of globablizaiton and mass culture”.

     Finally, I invite you to observe and discover particular
lines in those products which are guided by aesthetic seek-
ings and artistic applications that lead to specific results
that do not always coincide in representing the socio-cul-
tural reality where they originate. This is the case of the

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