Artisan Mamoon Al-Hallaq creates wooden masterpieces with a hundred – years -old lathe

Wearing his distinctive traditional Damascene costume, artisan Maamoun al-Hallaq spends most of his time in his workshop accompanied by the wooden lathe machine he inherited from his father, to make high-precision traditional artifacts.

The 64-year-old Al-Hallaq, told SANA that his lathe existed before the existence of electricity and energy means, and that he manufactures all kinds of furniture, Arabesque, and traditional wooden artifacts, such as the kibbeh jar, straw chairs, and al-Mehbaj, that requires him to master the art of drawing.

As for his work, Al-Hallaq who has been working in this profession for more than 50 years stated that he does shearing, knitting, lathing and drawing manually despite the availability of modern electrical tools at the present time because manual work has its own pleasure and traditional rituals that he loves. He explained that he is currently making small-sized antiques such as Samadiyat, Al Mehbaj and   kibbeh jar, as they are light and easy to carry for those who wish to own them.

He noted that he is the only and perhaps the last craftsman in Syria to make masterpieces and execute designs with a very old traditional machine like this, stressing, “Although we lost our equipment and tools in the war, it did not stop me from working, rather it prompted me to continue and start again because I wanted to revive this inherited profession in the family and keep it from extinction.”

On the marketing mechanism of his products, Al-Hallaq pointed out that he participates in all exhibitions and bazaars to present and introduce the new generation to this heritage craft. He also provides visitors to these events with a detailed explanation of the Syrian heritage crafts, stating that his last participation was at the exhibition “With Our Hands” held by the regional office of the Arab Federation for Productive Families in the Citadel of Damascus.

Al-Hallaq affirmed the need to support such heritage crafts to preserve and protect them from extinction by securing a permanent headquarters for the artisans in historical and archaeological sites in Damascus, such as Al-Azm Palace, Al-Takiya Al-Sulaymaniyah and others, so as to provide the opportunity for the largest possible number of visitors to view and acquire them, stressing his willingness to teach this craft to the new generation to serve as small income-generating projects.

“Syria is a country of heritage and its people are passionate about art in all its forms, which requires everyone to preserve the heritage professions to be Syria’s ambassador to the world,” Al-Hallaq concluded.

Amal Farhat