Pottery industry in Al - Qamishli

Lamar Arkandi-Al-Qamishli

The cracked claws of Mesac Antranek (80 years) cling to his genius in clay formation, embodying the most beautiful forms, pottery and ceramics in bright colors with symmetrical formations.

In the past, he has been deeply rooted in his family's history for nearly four hundred years. He is an invaluable inheritor, revealing the talents of her children and grandchildren, and representing their livelihood wherever they lived, before ending up in the city of Qamishli (northeast of Syria) ) Eighty years ago.

The family of Uncle Misak is the only one that has maintained the practice of this craft in the city and protected from extinction.

The passion of the profession
Misak and his son Anton spend long and tireless hours in his primitive clay workshop, which for the first time makes sure that time has stopped for hundreds of years between the corners and walls of that small patch where the father spent his childhood and youth and his old age.

Misak handles the ring wheel, controls the dough to become soft in his hands, and runs it as he wishes in every direction in an amazing process of control, wrapping it with his fingertips in every direction, depending on his palate in this art since he was ten years old.

Anton Mesak Pedrosian (40 years) says that the pottery industry begins by picking the quality of the clay (the pyron) - the basic material - and continues to scrub it with a fine sieve, and put it for several days in the prepared basins. The kneading process is followed by a strong stomping and mixing a little water to get a paste. Coherent and soft at the same time.

At a later stage, the clay is cut and processed by hand rubbing after it is spread on the surface of the smooth metal disc of the boiler. It is rotated on a stone wheel to align with the movement of the two men, eventually turning into vases, pots, plates, coins and other forms.

Oven stage
The pottery is placed in the final stage of its manufacture inside a dry clay kiln, known as "kilns", which starts at temperatures of 60 degrees, and gradually rises to 1200 degrees, leaving the oven closed for a day. The pottery is decorated after being removed from the oven and cooled. With natural dyes, the drawings are decorated with cooking pots, vases, statues, food storage containers and water coolers.

At the heart of Uncle Mesak, he guides the profession and other professions to an end. He calls for adherence to the heritage of parents and grandparents, which he no longer practices in the city other than his family. He says he makes various kinds of pottery such as porcelain and stoneware, brown, red, gray, white and black.

He explained why the pottery industry had in the past led to the people's lack of essential household items. He said that the profession had been blocked by the need to preserve, cook, store water, oils and honey.

Art and heritage
The customers of the Misak workshop are eager to buy the beautiful old-fashioned objects, driven by a desire to recall things from the beautiful past that were in the city's old markets.

The city of Qamishli is still full of many traditional trades and folk crafts, pottery is the oldest and most popular among them, despite the development of tools and machines manufactured pottery.