The variety of the crafts of Himachal Pradesh reveals the artistic deftness of the people of the state. In the state of mountains and valleys, people make several handicrafts throughout the year. The crafts include textiles, woodcarvings, carpet making and pottery.

The town of Kangra in Himachal Pradesh is famous for traditional clay ware mostly in dark red or black, which are very attractive. Few of the items are gidya, which is a jug bowl for curd or butter, which is called patri, tobacco smoking pot called narele, which is shaped like a coconut.

Dense forests occupy a large portion of the state and therefore it is obvious that woodwork has developed as a major form of craft. The artistic dexterity in woodwork is displayed by the craftsmen of Chamba who specialize in wooden boxes of geometrical forms for storing grains. Some common woodwork designs are naghbel, which is zigzag line that combines the serpentine pattern with three or four petal flowers in each side of the line dori, which is a continuous line of flowers; kutheri phool is a multi-sided figure.

Himachal Pradesh boasts of traditional stone carvings. The ancient Pahari carvings are well decorated with cylindrical figures.

Embroidery is a household craft in Himachal Pradesh. The big handkerchiefs called rumal of Chamba are famous. They are used for wrapping ceremonious gifts during festivals and weddings. These rumals are heavily embroidered and are very eye-catching. The embroideries of these rumals bear an aesthetic resemblance of Mughal miniature painting.

Himachal Pradesh is also well known for its carpets like karcha, chuktu and chugdan. Panga a town in Chamba district produces a carpet woven in goat hair called thobi, which is dominated, by black and grey. The rugs bear designs like trishul, swastika and a few odd symbols like an eight-pointed motif composed of a diamond and a concentric circle.

Himachal Pradesh produces cotton durries (floor coverings), which are plain and mostly in blue or red colours. The expert weavers of the Sirmur region use pitloom for producing different attractive effects on the durries.

The woolen garments of Himachal Pradesh stand out from the rest of the crafts. The traditional pattern or design includes geometrical motifs assembled in straight horizontal lines, bands and stripes. This pattern is combined in several intricate but symmetrical orders to create a wide range of effects. From the traditional designs a multitude of designs are tried out like `bumba`, which is a kettle, shaped design with colours in between, `chatham` which is a big cross tipped by tiny crosses at both ends, `khabatobi` which is the typical Central Asian key, trishul, the trident from four corners crossing in the centre, yashin, a staircase of bands with a square in the centre and religious motifs of chorten and swastika. When there is less work during the winters, the women spent most of the time weaving the traditional Kullu shawls. In the Kullu valley and Chamba district other woolen fabrics like pattu and dohru are woven in rich colours. Blankets called `gudumas` are made of light long fibred loose flossy wool fibres. They are primarily woven in natural colours in white set off by wide crimson at two ends.