EXAMPLES OF MEMBERS' PUBLISHED WORK

 More articles
 by Carole French

 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^
 ^


 
 

Lebanon in Colour

by Carole French
· personal page ·
  · website ·

The Lebanese take pride in celebrating the country’s heritage through traditional handicrafts. Carole French looks at some of the beautiful items fashioned by local artisans .

On a visit to Lebanon you can’t help but admire the extent of local artists’ imagination. The styles and patterns are as varied as the plethora of colours and the materials used for crafts made of the country’s natural resources. Finely sculpted pottery and blown glass pieces, cutlery, colourful textiles and embroidered fashion accessories, carvings made from olive tree wood and grass baskets, plus soap produced from olive oil and sea salt used for beauty treatments are just some of handicrafts found here.

Souks and small villages are the best places to find practical yet elegant handicrafts being made. See trinket boxes and furniture being carved from wood, their design following the natural grain and then inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Pottery, too, is simplistically stylish and lightly glazed using olive oil. Some of the best examples can be seen in the souks of Assia and Rachaiya El-Foukhar.

Metal crafts, such as lamps fashioned from copper, brass and bronze, iron and stainless steel, can be seen at souk workshops throughout the country, while blown glass pieces like glasses and decanters come in every shade from the palest yellow to the most vibrant green and blue. Sarafand, which lies due south of Beirut, is famous for its blown glass pieces created from recycled materials.

Another town famed for its craft skills is Enfé, a picturesque fishing harbour north of Beirut. It is famous for its salt which is scented with oils for use in spa treatments. Its finest salt, collected by scraping the top-most layer from flats, known as fleur du sel, is used in cooking.

Lebanon is also famous for its olive oil soap. Families have grown their own olive trees and extracted the fruit’s oil for soap for centuries. The best places to find olive oil soap is in the souks of Tripoli and in the villages of the Koura district.

Handicrafts made ideal souvenirs of a visit to Lebanon. The skill and craftsmanship that goes into each and every piece is testament to its people’s keen sense of the aesthetic.

. . . . .

Grass Weaving

Rural communities use grass, dried and tightly woven, to produce baskets and floor coverings. The skill has today been adapted to produce elaborate furniture too. See items being made in the craft workshop near the Eglise St Barbara in Aamchit.

Hammered Trays

These ornate trays created by hammering patterns onto copper and brass are a staple to entertaining in Lebanon. They are often decorated with calligraphy or arabesque patterns. Some of the finest examples can be found along the main street through Qalamoun.

Textiles

Lebanese textiles are among the world’s most beautiful, but the skill was all but forgotten until an initiative to set up co-operatives where rural women could earn a living from textiles was launched. Today, the colourful textiles characterised by their geometric patterns can be seen everywhere.

-------

(c) Carole French - worldwide rights reserved
Contact us for syndication

This article was published in
ABTA Magazine (2011)