TEHRAN – Glassware accounts for almost one-fourth of handicrafts exports from Tehran province, a local tourism official has said.

“Handicrafts exports from Tehran province reached $62 million in the past [Iranian calendar] year (ended March 2018) as glasswork objects constituted almost one-fourth of the sum,” Mehr Mohammad Enshaei as saying on Monday.

He said that the craft is dominating the province. 

“Glassware workshops have become prevalent in Tehran to some extent that its artisans consider it as the main souvenir of the province.”

Enshaei said that “Laleh Abbasi” candlesticks, which depict portrait of Nasir al-Din Shah (r. 1848 -1896), are amongst the best-sellers.

Tehran exported a worth of $15.3 million during the first three months of the current Iranian year as the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization anticipated it would reach $75 million this year.

Tehran also exported sets of leatherwork, marquetry and woodcarving along with personal ornamentations, handmade textiles, semi-precious stones amongst others.

Earlier this month, Enshaei announced that a vast complex dedicated to handcrafted glassware is being built in western Tehran.

Iran exported $280 million worth of handicrafts during the past Iranian year to Iraq, Afghanistan and Germany, the U.S., the UK, and the Persian Gulf littoral states amongst others.

AFM/PA