Every market in the region sells the same tourist carvings. Behind them, in workshops that do not advertise, several crafts are still practised properly. Knowing the difference saves money and weight.
The useful question is not whether something is handmade — almost everything claims to be — but whether the technique it uses would survive being done by machine. Where it would not, the craft is still alive. Where it would, you are probably buying an import with a local label.
The strongest craft in the region, and the one most worth understanding before you buy. Azerbaijani weaving in particular has a long, regionally distinct tradition, and the patterns are not decorative inventions — they are specific to places, and a dealer who knows their stock can tell you which valley a design belongs to.
Three things separate a real piece from a factory one: the back is as legible as the front, the colours are slightly uneven across the field because dye lots differ, and the edges are not perfectly straight. A carpet with flawless geometry and a vivid, uniform colour is a machine product, whatever the price.
Armenian workshops still produce fine enamel work and silver filigree, much of it drawn from ecclesiastical patterns that have been in use for centuries. This is the category where small, genuinely good pieces are affordable and easy to carry — a reasonable argument for buying jewellery rather than textiles if you are travelling light.
On real filigree the reverse is finished but not disguised — you can see the joins. Cast imitations are smooth underneath because they were poured, not built.
Filigree is mostly air and feels lighter than it looks. A piece that feels solid for its size is probably cast.
Highland households across all three countries still work wool, and felt is the most honest product of it: hats, mats, slippers, bags. It is cheap, it packs flat, and because it is made for use rather than for display it tends to be the least faked thing in any market.
Georgian winemaking in buried clay vessels has made the potters who supply it something of a draw in their own right. Full-size vessels are obviously not luggage, but the same workshops make drinking cups and small jugs in the same clay and the same method, and those travel.
Wholesale import. The same crate was delivered to all of them.
Fixed by a distributor, not by the person who made it.
They did not make it and did not buy it locally either.
The best sign available. Ask to look — people are usually pleased to show you.
Bargaining is normal in markets and faintly insulting in workshops, where the price reflects hours of labour and the maker is standing in front of you. In the second case, buying two things at the asking price gets you a better reception — and often a better piece — than arguing over one.
One more practical point: several categories here, particularly anything genuinely old, carry export restrictions. Carpets above a certain age and religious items are the usual cases. A reputable seller will raise this before you do; if they do not, ask.
Markets are easiest to reach on the routes described in routes, and the regional differences behind these crafts go back to the history covered in history.