Artisans Angkor is Cambodia's flagship craft school and social enterprise — founded in 1992 by the French NGO Chantiers-Écoles de Formation Professionnelle to revive traditional Khmer crafts (stone carving, wood carving, silk weaving, lacquer, silver work, and gilded silk painting) after the Khmer Rouge had killed most of the country's master craftspeople. Today the school employs over 1,300 Cambodians, most of them rural young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, and produces some of the finest traditional crafts in Cambodia.
The main workshop in Siem Reap offers free guided tours (about 30 minutes) through the production areas — watching a stone carver work on a sandstone apsara or a silk weaver at a loom is both educational and humbling. The shop sells the workshop's output at prices that are higher than the Night Market but that fund fair wages and training. The silk farm (Angkor Silk Farm) 16 km outside town provides a more comprehensive tour including mulberry growing and silkworm rearing.
Verified Facts
Artisans Angkor was founded in 1992
It employs over 1,300 Cambodian artisans
The organisation trains rural young people from disadvantaged backgrounds
The silk farm is 16 kilometres from Siem Reap
Get walking directions
Stung Thmey Street, Svay Dankum, Siem Reap, Cambodia
