TEHRAN – Isfahan will celebrate its registration as the World Crafts City during a ceremony on October 11.

In a declaration on September 7 the World Crafts Council (WCC) recognized Iranian cities of Isfahan and Tabriz as World Crafts Cities.

Masud Soltanifar, the chief of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicraft Organization (CHTHO), and some ambassadors are invited to the ceremony, Isfahan CHTHO office director said in a press conference on Sunday.

Fereydun Allahyari said a selection of elite handicraft artists will also attend the event.

Three exquisite handicraft artworks will be also unveiled during the ceremony, Allahyari announced.

“Giving the title of World Crafts City to Isfahan provides a chance for the city to introduce capacities in art to the world.

“This is also considered as a great opportunity for Iran to develop handicraft industry in different parts of world,” Allahyari remarked.

Over 18000 artists produce handicrafts in 196 types in Isfahan, which covers one third of handicraft products in Iran, he said.

Iran requested the registration of its two cities at the Asia-Oceania Summit in 2015 in India and received near-unanimous vote from all the five continents.

Only six cities were nominated for global registration in 2015; however, for the first time, the two Iranian cities were simultaneously registered for their special advantages in handicraft and carpet-waving.

The registration is estimated to improve Iran’s tourism industry and can encourage tourists to visit the two cities.

WCC President Wang Shan sent a message to Soltanifar congratulating him on such a success.

According to Iranica, Isfahan has maintained its position as a major center for traditional crafts in Persia.

The crafts of Isfahan encompass textiles, carpets, metalwork, woodwork, ceramics, painting, and inlay works of various kind. The work is carried out in different settings including small industrial and bazaar workshops, in the homes of craftsmen and women, and in rural cottage industries.

Isfahan’s crafts are clearly rooted in the city’s royal past, but to suggest a direct and uninterrupted link to the Safavid era would be too simplistic an assumption.

The passing of skills from one generation to the next has been disrupted many times, beginning with the Afghan invasion of 1722, and by later wars, famines, plagues, tribal pillages and the resulting depopulation.

----- Qalamkar or the craft of woodblock-printing on cotton tablecloths, bedspreads, and curtains has been a specialty of Isfahan for the last two centuries.

Indian imports had dominated this branch of the textile industry in the pre-1800 period. Impoverishment and insecurity in the 18th century had created a situation where domestic output had to compensate for the shortfall in imports.

------------ Metalwork: Isfahan’s prominence in decorative work on metal objects continues today, achieving the highest standards within the country in the past century. The revival of the art in Isfahan was achieved partly thanks to an exodus of artisans from Kerman and Yazd. The metalwork in Isfahan is mainly embossing and engraving (qalamzani) on various metals such as iron, copper, brass, and nickel alloys as well as gold and silver.

A more recent development in the metalwork of Isfahan is the production of large-scale copper sheets for use as interior wall decoration in public and private buildings in the city, and in Tehran.

------ Khatamkari: This most typical of Persian wood-inlay work has been a specialty of Shiraz and Isfahan since the time of the Zand dynasty in the latter half of the 18th century.

Khatam is widely used in decorating musical instruments, the prominent maker of which at the outset of the Pahlavi era was Yahya, an Armenian from the Jolfa district who later moved to the capital.

------------- Enamel and painting: Practiced since the 18th century in Isfahan, the art of enamel (minakari) thrived in Isfahan under the Pahlavis.

The trade expanded enormously owing to increasing demand, so that by the 1970s some 500 skilled enamel painters in Isfahan were engaged in decorating a wide variety of objects, from earrings to vases and chandeliers.

Isfahan is home to professional painters from different schools of painting, from traditional miniature to modern designs that are painted on canvas, bone, ivory, wood, and other materials.

PHOTO: A shop offering enamel artworks in Isfahan (Source: laosiran.wordpress.com)




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