Lesson 4 Cherishing the Past
Still Standing
We are surrounded by mass-produced items, which are manufactured in quick and cheap ways that ensure maximum profits.
Handcrafting things without relying on machines is often difficult and slow.
That is why more and more craft skills are going extinct.
Despite all this, there are artisans around the world who make things in the old ways with their own bare hands.
Here are three countries that show how traditional crafts are still standing.
Tunisia
The women in the town of Sejnane in Tunisia, like Aljia Saidani and her daughter, Rim, still follow the methods of making pottery by hand that date back over 3,000 years.
They collect clay and spread it out to dry for about five days under the sun.
They add broken pieces of pottery to make the clay stronger.
The mixture is molded into a shape that comes to mind on the spot.
Then, the piece is coated with white clay or red earth.
Next, it is fired over an open flame.
Then, it is finally time to decorate it.
All the colors come from nature, and the designs give the pottery its unique look.
In the past, the women of Sejnane mostly made practical items like bowls, dishes, and cups.
Unfortunately, it is much harder to sell those nowadays, since mass-produced plastic and metal products are cheaper.
This made the women think more creatively, and now they design original pieces like vases and dolls.
The work is tough, and the craft has been avoided by young people.
However, Rim says, “It has made me a more patient person.
Everything about it needs to be done step by step.
Everything is in slow motion.
This is actually a life lesson that I really cherish.”
India
Aranmula, a village in India, is home to the traditional craft of mirror making.
Here, the mirrors are made entirely of metal.
With typical glass mirrors, light has to travel through the glass in order to get reflected on the back of the glass coated with metal.
In contrast, the Aranmula mirror reflects light on the surface of the metal and shows a more accurate reflection.
The craft has been passed down in Aranmula for around 500 years.
Sudhammal J learned the trade secrets from her father when she was little, including the formula for the perfect ratio of tin and copper to create the mirror’s reflective surface.
The process is incredibly laborious and is done entirely by hand.
Sudhammal works with her son, Niranjan, often into the night.
They first make a clay mold and then prepare pieces of tin and copper.
With the right mixture of the metal pieces filling the inside, the clay mold sits in a 1,200-degree fire for about an hour.
After the metal pieces melt, they cool down the mold, break it, and take the mirror out of it.
It isn’t reflective just yet.
It needs to go through several rounds of polishing.
The final step is to fix the mirror inside the metal frame.
Niranjan came home to the craft after getting a business degree.
“My grandfather’s death led me to help my mother.
Through that, my interest and passion grew, too.
The new generation seems uninterested in the craft mostly because of the harsh working conditions, unbearable heat, and long hours of tiring work.
However, we won’t sell our craft to machines because that would end up dissolving our collective identity.”
Korea
In Jeonju, Korea, Kim Dong-sik has been making hapjukseons, traditional folding fans that used to be reserved for royal families.
He uses a 350-year-old technique that has been passed down through his family.
Although the fan looks simple, the process of making it involves about 150 manual steps using natural materials.
It takes four to five days to make just one fan.
It starts with preparing bamboo.
He makes it soft by boiling it and leaves it out to dry for up to two weeks.
Then, he splits the bamboo into strips and thins them down again and again until you can see through them.
He then glues two strips into one rib and binds the ribs tightly.
This makes the fan incredibly strong.
Now that the framework is ready, he spreads the fan ribs out with glue applied on them.
Then, he carefully attaches paper to the ribs, folding it for each rib.
Afterward, the fan may be left plain or decorated by a painter.
Kim says, “To make a fan, you need a lot of patience and determination.
In the old days, all the fans were made this way.
I stand by this so that the perfect traditional skills can be taught and carried into the future.”
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