25 April - 1 May 2002
Issue No.583
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 25 April - 1 May 2002 Issue No.583 |
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Looking for clarity
Whether trendy or traditional, Egypt's jewellery-makers share an uncertainty about where their profession is heading. Reham El-Adawi goes in search of the glitter
A few months ago, a group of professional and amateur jewellery designers, along with experts, artisans and connoisseurs of the decorative art, sat down to discuss the problems that hinder the expansion of their craft. The forum -- which accompanied an Art of Jewellery Festival sponsored by the Ministry of Culture -- revealed the divergent trends in today's jewellery-making world.
From top: Adli Said, a traditional gold jewellery craftsman, prepares earrings in the pre-welding stage; students at the American University's jewellery-making classes; below: a necklace by designer Ahmed Badawi
Does jewellery, for instance, have to feature expensive materials to be considered beautiful? Not according to Zeinab Khalifa, one of the participants in both the forum and the festival. Khalifa, a professor at the Faculty of Artistic Education, argued that regardless of whether wood, iron, stainless steel, enamel, silver, brass or ivory was used in creating an original ornament, the most important thing was the piece's innovation, creativity and originality.
Budding designer Nahla Qenawi, who exhibits permanently at a gallery in Sharm Al-Sheikh, also agreed that her main concern was the novelty and lasting quality of the design, regardless of the materials used. Like most of her generation, Qenawi cannot afford to have her own workshop. Moreover, properly equipped galleries for the display of jewellery are rare and charge high rents.
For Abdel-'Aal Mohamed Abdel-'Aal, a professor of jewellery at the Faculty of Applied Arts (FAA), creating a beautiful design should derive inspiration from Egypt's goldsmithing heritage. The practice flourished in Ancient Egypt and was passed on through the Ptolemaic, Roman, Christian and Fatimid eras. He stresses that designers should not replicate Ancient Egyptian necklaces but add their own styles. However innovative Egyptian craftsmen may be, their inability to buy the latest technology in the field is a serious handicap.
Ahmed Wahid Mustafa, a professor of computer-aided jewellery manufacturing at the FAA, believes that there are several machine-based techniques that add to the jewellery's aesthetic and economic value. For instance, it was impossible, before the advent of laser, to weld similar metals to each other. He adds that computer-generated models of jewellery represent 23 per cent of all fashion jewellery produced in Western and southeast Asian countries.
Computers have also introduced bizarre designs and forms to the field of jewellery, something that was impossible to create in the past.
For Mustafa, the computer has as much a part in the creative process as in the production of the finished articles, and he does not consider that it contradicts a commitment to faithfully adhering to Egypt's heritage. "In the Middle Kingdom, hollow gold beads, carnelian beads and girdles of beads resembling shells can be seen from the treasures of Dahshur and the New Kingdom's princesses. The later periods have also left a rich collection of artefacts, such as the Graeco-Roman jewels which demonstrate an accomplished hand and a high degree of technical skill," Mustafa told Al-Ahram Weekly.
Jewellery designer Ahmed Badawi, a professor at the Metal Products and Jewellery Department in the FAA, is famous for his bold jewellery designs which combine elements of Egypt's Ancient Egyptian heritage with a resolute modernism. He laments that owners of several workshops and companies recruit artisans from southeast Asia, South Korea and Pakistan, something that has eroded the distinctive identity of Egyptian jewellery. Unlike Badawi, Suzanne El-Masri, a leading designer who maintains a permanent exhibition at the Al-Hussein district's Zeinab Khatoun House, finds that the existence of Indian artisans in Egypt is a good opportunity for their Egyptian peers to learn new techniques and improve their skills.
Most of the ideas raised by the artists, designers and professors who attended the conference revolve around creating high-quality pieces that can compete with imported jewellery. These ideas, however, almost wholly exclude the artisan's role in the process.
Khalifa, for instance, touched upon the poor and deteriorating economic and health conditions that the artisans have to suffer and that have forced many to quit the profession. She says that in most workshops, artisans work between 10 and 12 hours daily. They do not have a fixed salary and the owner of the workshop can fire them at any time. They are also prone to chest diseases and skin allergies and have no health or social security insurance.
LEARNING THE SKILLS: Sherif El-Sergani, owner of a well-known gold and diamond jewellery factory, has his own opinion on the criteria that govern how jewellery products are marketed, and the obstacles facing the different stages of implementation.
"Any designer or artist should bear in mind, in designing a piece of jewellery, who it will be sold to and whether it possesses a special feature that enables it to be purchased abroad," El-Sergani said. For instance, clients from popular areas do not appreciate European-style jewellery and rural women are more likely to purchase gold-plated brass jewellery. The materials used, whether white, yellow gold or platinum etc, should also be considered.
El-Sergani explains that the three stages in producing a piece of jewellery rely on the craftsman's skill. However, in mass production, the artisan needs the assistance of certain types of tools and machines that will guarantee uniformity.
For El-Sergani, the most crucial obstacle in the implementation stage is the shortage of trained, technically- adept artisans, particularly in the field of diamond- evaluation and setting precious and semi-precious stones. El-Sergani explains that today's shortage of technically-accomplished craftsmen goes back to when the gold and silver market was dominated by the Armenians and the Jews. These two groups, which came to Egypt from Turkey via Italy, introduced Turkish and European styles and models into the local jewellery- making markets. But the Armenians refused to make the secrets of their profession known out of fear that their livelihood would be threatened, and the secrets of their art died with them.
Today, young artisans in search of a quick profit avoid learning skills like stone-setting -- a time-consuming process that can take from two to three years. But for those who master it, the skill's rarity ensures that they become a prized commodity, El-Sergani told Al-Ahram Weekly.
"I am surprised that I haven't received a single highly- qualified designer or artisan graduate from the Faculty of Applied Arts in over 44 years," El-Sergani said. The jewellery-making courses organised by the Faculty of Applied Arts are open to any dexterous craftsman or jewellery lover. The three-month course -- whose hefty LE550 price tag makes it a considerable investment -- concentrates on form besides teaching students modern techniques in mass-producing jewellery. However, neither the faculty nor other institutes that host jewellery- making departments are concerned with reviving and preserving the vanishing skills.
"In Egypt, there are only 12 artisans who have mastered the skill of stone-setting but they received their education in the United States," laments El-Sergani.
In an attempt to fill this gap, the American University in Cairo's Centre for Adult and Continuing Education (CACE), in cooperation with Al-Captain, an international Jordanian foundation for gold, silver and platinum jewellery-making, recently launched state-of-the- art courses on the subject. Late last year 70 designers graduated from the centre -- its first batch.
The head of the foundation, Mohamed Abu Zahra, pointed out that what distinguished this course from others was that it concentrated on the subject's theoretical aspect. It taught students how to purify gold, instructed them on how to discover rocks that contained precious metals, introducing them to marketing techniques, opening jewellery shops and participating in the gold stock market. "The centre also helps the graduates open workshops and stores and begin their private business," Abu Zahra said.
THE HEART OF THE MATTER: Located in the heart of Old Cairo, Al-Sagha Street, known as Suq Al-Sagha, is the market of goldsmithery where jewellery artisans, workshops, jewellers and gold traders are based.
On Al-Hamshari Street, at a store with a tiny workshop on the second floor, owner Makram Jacob, 65, had a rather melancholic expression on his face. The reason quickly became clear: "From 1947, when I was just an apprentice in a workshop, until today, I have not witnessed such a deterioration in the profession as the one it faces today," he says.
Called Al-Mu'alem (The Boss), Jacob and other gold traders and manufacturers have endured particularly hard times since a sales tax was recently imposed on gold. He said that under the sales tax law, a gold product is taxed at 10 per cent its total value. Jacob explained that the 10 per cent should be imposed only on a gold item's added value rather than on the material itself. "Gold is a material that is reshaped for an infinite number of times. It is not perishable so it is illogical to repeatedly impose a 10 per cent sales tax on the same amount of gold," he complains. "The growing cases of cheating are one direct consequence of the tax being applied," Jacob said.
In fact, a growing number of goldsmiths are refraining from sending the gold items to the Stamping Authority. Meanwhile, counterfeit stamps are so good that even seasoned inspectors find it hard to tell the difference. "The (Sales Tax) authority should design new stamps that can't be faked," Jacob suggests.
In Al-Maqassissi Street where about 50 gold workshops are gathered in one building, Adli Said, a workshop owner with 40 years experience in the profession, also complains that cheating has become rampant because of the recent sales tax on gold. Some have reportedly quit the profession, while others are struggling to survive. "I used to recruit nine artisans -- now there are only three -- even the amount of gold used per month has gone down from 50 kilos to 10," laments Said.
In the same building, at a relatively modern workshop owned by Nabil Shafiq, a former general, a laser pen is used for engraving unfinished bracelets made according to Italian designs. Shafiq agreed with what was said by his colleagues about the new gold tax, adding that another problem was the finishing process applied to Egyptian jewellery. However eclectic the craftsmanship may be, the absence of the requisite technology to provide the kind of high quality finishing required presents serious obstacles to the craft.
"Twelve years ago, when I first decided to establish a workshop, I travelled to Italy and spent LE60,000, which included the purchase of two tiny moulding machines. Each cost LE5,000, but I am still using them after all these years because the Egyptian ones, although cheaper, cost only LE300 but break down after only a few months," he said. "Currently, I can't import new tools to improve and modernise my production because of the slowdown in the gold market and the continuous decrease in demand for gold jewellery," Shafiq said, adding that, "even if we improve and modernise goldsmithing for export, we will be hindered by the law which views the export of gold as a form of smuggling. Unfortunately, it is more practical and profitable to import ready- made gold items from countries in the region -- mainly the International Centre of Gold in Dubai -- than it is to overcome Egypt's complicated tax laws."
WHAT'S NEXT?: Perhaps Mohamed Ali, the founder of modern Egypt, should be looked to for a blueprint on how ancient traditions can be married to state-of-the-art techniques that are necessary for decorative arts to continue to flourish and compete in an ever-modernising world.
In Mohamed Ali's day, the inheritors of the intricate process of making jewellery had also begun to disappear. Noticing this shortage, Mohamed Ali established a school for teaching arts and crafts. He also sent a group of 58 trainees to France in 1829 on a scholarship. Two of the expedition's members, Ibrahim El-'Attaal and Hassan El-Razzi, specialised in stone- setting, and came back to Egypt to teach a new generation what they had learned.
The bracelets, collars, necklaces and butterflies -- shimmering with gold, decorated with ivory, amethyst and turquoise -- that have survived either as actual treasures or in scenes of ancient workshops painted on tomb walls -- are synonymous with Egypt. As today's designers, like the generations that came before them, look to this valuable heritage for knowledge and ideas, it seems far-fetched to think that solutions to the problems facing the jewellery-making craft won't be found.
Events like the Art of Jewellery Festival -- with its focus not just on providing a showcase for designers of all sorts, but on discussing the problems facing the craft today -- signal a positive attempt to recognise, and thus begin work on solving the issues facing jewellery-makers today.
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