Folk arts and crafts have been an important part of Russian tradition for centuries. Russian people have always had a close relationship with their natural surroundings as they provided them with clothes, food and helped them structure the rhythm of their daily lives. Mankind observed what was around him and this was reflected in his craft: Clay whistles and figures carved from bone, Tyumen carpets and Volgograd lace, matryoshka dolls and khokhloma painting. No matter what their art, all of these craftsmen’s pieces are made with thought and love, and are the product of hard work on items that have surrounded them all of their lives. Nowadays these traditional arts and crafts continue to develop. In a time dominated by technical progress and automatic machines, hand-crafted items have come to hold a special value.