TEHRAN - Handicrafts exports from Kermanshah province reached $8 million during the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21, 2018).

“Handmade pairs of Giveh (a kind of lightweight traditional footwear) constituted the lion’s share of exports [during the period],” local official Parvaneh Heydari said, CHTN reported.

The western province exported $18 million worth of handicrafts during the past [Iranian calendar] year, she added.

Some 11,000 people are currently engaged as crafters across Kermanshah where 60 fields of handicrafts are practiced, Heydari explained.

In late 2017, Marivan, a historical city in Kermanshah, officially celebrated being named a world crafts city for Kalash, in an event attended by Ghada Hijavi, the head of World Crafts Council-Asia Pacific Region.

Kalash is usually made from carpet yarn, leather and other raw materials so that it lets the air circulate from its tiny pores. They traditionally come in white color, but one can find them in red, blue, orange, and black as well.

AFM/MQ/MG