The rhythmic clatter of a loom fills a farmhouse in rural Lithuania from morning to evening, most days of the year. For Urtė Salikaitė-Pranckūnienė, a traditional textile artist based in the small village of Uliūnai in northern Lithuania, that clatter is the sound of home.
"My mother and I are so used to it that we don't even notice," she says. "But whenever someone visits for the first time, they look horrified – 'How do you stand this all day? It's deafening!' We don't hear it anymore. You just adapt."
At the heart of Urtė's practice is the weaving of traditional Lithuanian sashes – long, intricately patterned woven bands that have been used for centuries in ceremonies, folk costume and ritual. The craft is listed by Unesco as an intangible cultural heritage, and demand, she says, has never been stronger.
Lithuanian stashes | LRT still frame
Her commissions range from the intimate to the extraordinary. Each year she weaves hundreds of sashes for Lithuanian-American graduation ceremonies in the United States, where the tradition of presenting a hand-woven sash to school-leavers has been preserved by diaspora communities.
