Blue calico cloth is showcased at the Nantong Benlan Craft Space. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

The Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism recently released a list of 24 provincial-level intangible cultural heritage creative spaces, including two from Nantong.

Established in 2012, the city's 1,600-square-meter Linyun Hall Chenglin Wood Carving Art Museum is designed in a traditional Chinese style historically found in Anhui province, resembling a courtyard layout with two floors. The venue includes an art gallery, studios, and design rooms, while displaying over 300 redwood carvings, intangible cultural heritage-related creative products, and cultural tourism specialty items.

Leveraging the century-old Cao Yuxing's blue calico printing and dyeing techniques, Nantong Benlan Craft Space focuses on adapting blue calico cloth to modern needs, making improvements and refinements to materials and dyeing techniques while also combining embroidery, redwood, summer cloth weaving skills to develop multifunctional products.

Simultaneously, the space has also made efforts to develop cultural and creative products, expand marketing channels through networks and digital technology, and enhance the interactivity and experience of blue calico cloth.