🎉Bringing Traditional Crafts to Life at the 14th International Danube Festival

🎉 Bringing Traditional Crafts to Life at the 14th International Danube Festival

On 6–7 July 2026, DanubeCrafts participated in the 14th International Danube Festival in Ulm/Neu-Ulm, one of the largest cultural festivals along the Danube. Every two years, the festival brings together people, cultures and traditions from across the Danube Region through music, art, gastronomy and traditional crafts, creating a unique space for intercultural exchange. 🌍🎶🎨

This inspiring setting provided the perfect opportunity to present the vision of DanubeCrafts and our upcoming Traditional Crafts Route to a diverse audience. The stand was designed and animated by Dr. Clémentine Roth and Katharina Riedmüller from Steinbeis Europa Zentrum, together with Chiara Stopfkuchen from PONG.Li Studios, who created an engaging and interactive experience for festival visitors.

Our stand invited visitors to explore the project through several interactive dimensions:

🧶 Experience craftsmanship live: A live weaving demonstration by hand weaver Anke van Bakel - van Meijel who offered fascinating insights into the craftsmanship, precision and creativity behind traditional textile production. Visitors could observe the weaving process up close, ask questions and experience a living craft tradition in action.

🏺 Discover the Danube Region: Handcrafted objects from various partner regions illustrated the diversity of traditional crafts across the Danube Region, each reflecting unique techniques, materials and cultural identities.

✨ Find your Craft Type: Our interactive Craft Type Quiz encouraged visitors to explore what connects them to traditional crafts while providing valuable insights that will support the further development of the Traditional Crafts Route and its future visitor experience.

The festival also provided an excellent opportunity to engage with craftspeople, cultural organisations and other stakeholders, present the objectives of DanubeCrafts and strengthen our growing network dedicated to preserving and promoting living craft traditions across the Danube Region.

A special thanks goes to our Hungarian, Czech, Romanian, Bulgarian and Moldavian partners who provided us with regional products and to Anke van Bakel for sharing her expertise, passion and outstanding craftsmanship throughout the festival. Her live demonstrations brought traditional weaving to life and inspired countless conversations about the importance of preserving Europe's living craft heritage. 💛

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