Zorik Chusum (དྲུག་པ་ཚེས་བཞི་) is the classification of arts, crafts and technological skills into thirteen different domains. Specifically, the thirteen categories are: (1) calligraphy or yigzo, (2) painting or lhazo, (3) carving or parzo (སྤར་བཟོ་), (4) clay sculpture or jinzo (འཇིམ་བཟོ་), (5) metal casting or lugzo (བླུག་བཟོ་), (6) silver- and goldsmithery or trözo (སྤྲོས་བཟོ་), (7) needlework or tsemzo (ཚེམ་བཟོ་), (8) woodwork/ carpentry or shingzo (ཤིང་བཟོ་), (9) textile production or thakzo (ཐགས་བཟོ་), (10) papermaking or delzo (འདལ་བཟོ་), (11) bamboo craft or tsarzo (ཚར་བཟོ་), (12) blacksmithery or garzo (མགར་བཟོ་), and (13) masonry or dozo (རྡོ་བཟོ་). In this classification, carpentry and woodturning are put together under woodwork whereas in another enumeration, blacksmithery and gold- and silversmithery are combined into one art of smithery and woodturing (ཤག་བཟོ་) and carpentry are enumerated separately.

Yigzo (ཡིག་བཟོ་), calligraphy, includes the art of writing in different scripts. It is carried out mostly by monastic scribes and priests who create books for regular use or make ornamental books with artistic calligraphy. Also associated with calligraphy are other skills such as ink making and pen making.

Lhazo (ལྷ་བཟོ་), or painting, is practised as high culture by artists who are trained in the field. Buddhist figures and themes dominate the content of most Bhutanese paintings, thus giving it the name lhazo or ‘art of divine beings’. The painters learn iconographic mensuration and line drawings and gradually go on to create very complex images of deities and Buddhas. They also learn how to prepare and use the pigments, paint brushes and canvas.

Parzo (སྤར་བཟོ་), or carving, comes in many forms. Bhutanese artists and craftsmen carve metals such as copper, bronze, silver and gold, and also in wood and stone. Stone carvings are often mantras in either the Lantsha (ལན་ཛ་) or Uchen (དབུ་ཅན་) script while the carving on wood generally depict Buddhist subjects and/or traditional motifs and symbols.

Jinzo (འཇིམ་བཟོ་), clay sculpture, is an art in which Bhutanese masters have long excelled. Bhutanese clay sculptors are renowned for their clay figures, most of which are religious icons or symbols. A very special clay is used, and it is collected from specific areas in Bhutan. Like fine art, clay sculpture is taught in schools for traditional arts and crafts.

Metal casting or lukzo (བླུག་བཟོ་) is also known in Bhutan, and most objects are created through the lost-wax casting method.

Silver- and goldsmithery or trözo (སྤྲོས་བཟོ་) is a refined tradition. Silver- and goldsmiths create a wide range of intricate objects including religious figures, ritual artefacts, jewelleries, and household items.

Needlework or tsemzo (ཚེམ་བཟོ་) is practised by many Bhutanese but the more specialised arts of embroidery and appliqué are undertaken only by people with specific training and/or skills. Needlework includes basic tailoring to produce garments and the ornamental pieces that Bhutanese use heavily in religious activities and ceremonies. Special pieces such as wall hangings, tongdröl, and thangka are created using the embroidery and/or appliqué techniques.

Woodwork/carpentry known as shingzo (ཤིང་བཟོ་) is a very common craft. Most Bhutanese houses are built with intensive use of timber, portions of which incorporate various designs and decorations. Master carpenters and architects are crucial parts of the building process. Wood work is also carried out to produce household utensils. Traditionally, most Bhutanese crockery was created from wood using woodturning.

Textile production or thakzo (ཐགས་བཟོ་) is practised almost exclusively by women. From creating yarn, to dyeing thread, to weaving the various patterns, Bhutan has a very rich and diverse tradition of textile production. Historically, Bhutan exported textiles created from wool, yak hair, silk, cotton and plant fibres to Tibet, and in more modern times, textiles remain objects of keen interest for tourists as well as well-heeled locals.

Papermaking or delzo (འདལ་བཟོ་) may have arrived in Bhutan from China via Tibet. As Bhutan grows abundant amounts of Daphne and Edgeworthia, Bhutan has maintained a vibrant tradition of paper production although it was practised by select few people. In the past, paper was sent to Tibet as a gift or merchandise and the state also collected paper from the people as tax.

Bamboo crafts or tsarzo (ཚར་བཟོ་) are widely created by common Bhutanese, and require comparatively little, if any, formal training. Most cowherders practise are able to create ropes, baskets, strainers, mats, and other items for household use. Thanks to Bhutan’s abundant vegetation, different species of bamboo and cane grow across the country. In southern parts of Bhutan, bamboo is also used to build houses.

Blacksmithery or garzo (མགར་བཟོ་) was practised by certain communities and families in the past. Blacksmiths produced a wide range of household items, farming tools, and also religious artefacts. Bhutan has had many deposits of iron ore, and the famed Tibetan bridge builder Thangtong Gyalpo used iron extracted and processed in Bhutan to create some of his spans. The tradition is now in decline as many raw materials, such as steel, and metal tools are imported from India.

Masonry or dozo (རྡོ་བཟོ་) is a widespread in Bhutan. Homes in Central and Eastern Bhutan are generally built of stone and wood. Bhutanese masons used stone to build towering structures, many of which have lasted for many centuries. Most valleys also have quarries from where excellent stone is extracted before being chiselled or broken to get the desired shapes, and then stacked using mud plaster to hold them together. Whole stone slabs are sometimes put over a river to make a bridge. Stones are also used for millstones, mortar and pestles, knife sharpeners, and also griddle pans.

Although the thirteen arts and crafts are generally presented as a comprehensive list of artistic tradition and craftsmanship in Bhutan, this set does not include all arts and crafts. For example, tannery and bone works are among the examples that do not fall within the Zorig Chusum classification. Nonetheless, the thirteen arts and crafts today represent the artistic and craft based cultural heritage of Bhutan, and their study and mastery is being actively promoted by the state.

Karma Phuntsho is a social thinker and worker, the President of the Loden Foundation and the author of many books and articles including The History of Bhutan.