Explore Timeless Artistry
About The Craft World Tours Collection
Curator’s Note
The first time I walked into that barn in Byron, I understood I wasn’t looking at storage. I was looking at forty years of the world, brought home one trip at a time.
I’m Marc Blumenfeld. I came to this collection through family — and I stayed because once you’ve held these objects, read the trip notes, and seen the photographs of the moment each piece was acquired, you understand you’re not looking at inventory. You’re looking at a record of how people connect across distance, language, and tradition.
My work now is straightforward: find each of these pieces the right home. Document what’s known. Be honest about what isn’t. And make sure the story behind every object — who made it, where, and how it came to be part of this collection — travels with it.
This is what I mean by Wilson Provenance: not a marketing term, but a standard. Real photographs. Real trip records. Real artisan relationships, most going back decades.
Forty years. Thirty countries. One collection. I’m honored to be its steward.
What This Collection Is
Tour World Crafts is a boutique gallery of one-of-a-kind folk art and ethnographic objects — each piece documented, provenance-tracked, and sourced directly from artisans across more than thirty countries over four decades. These are not reproductions, not mass market, not random antiques. They are extraordinary objects with a verified story behind them.
The Provenance Chain
How an object moved from artisan to archive to you.
1969–2011 — Acquired in the Field
Each piece was selected directly from the artisan, village, or workshop where it was made — not purchased through a market or importer. Many acquisitions were photographed at the moment of purchase, the foundation of what we call Wilson Provenance.
1969–2011 — Documented
Trip notes, itineraries, and photographic records were kept alongside each object — building an archive that runs parallel to the physical collection itself.
2011–2024 — Held in Byron
The collection remained in the barn and farmhouse studio in Byron, New York, where it was built — housed and largely undisturbed for decades.
2024 — The Move
The collection was relocated to storage units in Byron, transitioning also through Rochester before reaching its current climate-controlled storages.
2025–Now — Cataloged and Photographed
Each piece is individually identified, measured, researched, and photographed — cross-referenced against the original trip archive wherever possible.
Now — Released
The pieces you’re viewing have completed this chain. What you’re buying isn’t just an object. It’s the documentation that travels with it.
Where It Began
Craft World Tours was founded in 1969 by Tom Muir Wilson, a photographer and educator at RIT, and Sherry Clark Wilson, a textile designer. For over forty years, they led small groups to work alongside master craftspeople across more than thirty countries — not as tourists, but as students of the people and places they visited.
Tom’s photographs and Sherry’s trip records form the documentary backbone of this collection — the reason so many pieces here carry real provenance rather than guesswork. What they built wasn’t just a travel company. It was an archive of human craftsmanship, assembled one relationship at a time.
Today, that archive lives on as the Craft World Tours Collection.
The Regions
Derived from the original Craft World Tours field records, 1969–2011.
Eastern Europe & the Balkans
Romania’s Maramures and Transylvania, where sheepskin coatmakers, maskmakers, and terracotta potters work in what’s often called a living ethnographic museum. Bulgaria’s southern mountains, home to Muslim Bulgarian weavers and the architecture of Plovdiv. Portugal’s Alentejo and Montermuro, with their embroidered rug workshops, weaving cooperatives, and lace schools. Hungary, Poland, and the broader folk art traditions of the former USSR.
The Silk Road & Central Asia
The legendary 1991 Silk Road expedition into China’s Xinjiang frontier, visiting the Muslim oasis towns of Turpan and Kashgar. Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan’s Silk Route cities — Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva — home to feltmakers, silk ikat weavers, and suzani embroidery artists.
South & Southeast Asia
Bhutan’s valleys of Bumthang and Punakha, where masked dancers perform sacred rituals at the great dzongs. Sikkim and Darjeeling in the Indian highlands. Myanmar’s Inle Lake and the temple plains of Pagan, home to kalaga tapestry workshops and bronze foundries. Rajasthan and Gujarat in India, with their block-printing, embroidery, and bronze traditions. Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand’s textile-rich villages.
The Andean Highlands
Ecuador’s Avenue of the Volcanoes and the Otavalo Market. Bolivia’s high-altitude world, from Cochabamba to Lake Titicaca, home to the Jalq’a weavers. Oaxaca, Mexico, ancient homeland of the Zapotec and Mixtec, where the collection holds decades-long relationships with potters and woodcarvers.
Africa & the Middle East
Morocco’s medinas of Fes and Marrakech, with their carpet weavers, dyers, and brass and copper workers. Turkey’s Anatolian plateau and the workshops of Cappadocia. The collection’s African holdings include craft traditions from Ghana, Togo, Egypt, and Tunisia, documented in the photographic archive and currently being cross-referenced against trip records as digitization continues.
An Invitation
Every piece in this collection has a place it came from, a person who made it, and now, a chance at a new home. If something here speaks to you, I’d encourage you to read its story — not just its description.
Browse the collection, explore the archive, or reach out directly if you’re looking for something specific. I’m glad to help.