How A 92-Year-Old Saved The Ancient Craft Of Parchment-Making In Western Turkey | Still Standing
Business Insider・2 minutes read
A 92-year-old artisan named Ismail in Bergamot, Turkey, meticulously crafts parchment by hand, preserving a dying craft in the face of mass-produced paper. Ismail's dedication has inspired apprentices like Melton and Sinan to continue his legacy, running the city's sole parchment store and serving a global clientele.
Insights
- Ismail, a 92-year-old artisan in Bergamot, Turkey, is preserving the traditional craft of parchment making through his meticulous process of manually creating durable canvases from sheepskin, highlighting the importance of passing down skills to future generations.
- Ismail's commitment to training apprentices like Melton and Sinan showcases the resilience of traditional crafts in adapting to modern times, ensuring the continuation of heritage practices and meeting the demands of a global market for unique, handcrafted products.
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Recent questions
How does Ismail make parchment?
By scraping hair off sheepskin and soaking in lime water.
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Summary
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Master Artisan Preserves Ancient Parchment Craft
- Ismail, a 92-year-old artisan, meticulously makes parchment by hand, spending hours scraping hair off sheepskin to create durable canvases, a craft nearly lost to mass-produced paper.
- Ismail, based in Bergamot, Turkey, washes and soaks high-quality skins in lime water for five days, then scrapes them with a sharp knife to achieve smoothness, a skill he mastered over 70 years.
- Ismail's dedication to parchment making, despite the decline in demand, led him to train apprentices like Melton and Sinan, who now run the city's only parchment store, catering to artists and clients worldwide.
