Bamboo, straw, cattail products still exist in Syria

A few decades ago,  handmade straw and bamboo chairs were  in every Damascene house and cafe, and they were purchased by rich people as furniture for salons, balconies, and gardens to their houses.

However,  the spread of cheap chairs made of plastic and metal led to a decline in demand for straw and bamboo chairs.

In the 1980s, there were more than 30 workshops for making the above-mentioned chairs in the areas of Al-Qabaqbeyeh, Bab Msalla and Qanawat in Damascus. This year, the number of workshops was reduced to one.

“No one is producing straw chairs in Damascus nowadays as there is  no demand for them and their quality is not as high as bamboo ones.. Our workshop, which was opened in 1920, is the only one that still produces bamboo chairs in Damascus ,” Mr. Mohammad Al-Khabir, the owner of a shop in Al-Qanawat in Damascus, told Syria Times.

He clarified that he inherited the craft from his father and grandfather and  his workshop used to import bamboo straw, which is the raw material for producing bamboo products, from Singapore as this type of straw does not grow in Syria because of its weather.

This handmade craft has been known in Damascus since 600 years.

Mr. Al-Khabir gave us the following details about how straw chairs were produced: “After bringing wheat straw bales, we moisten them with water for about 4-5 hours and cover them with a piece of wet “burlap”, then we comb them with a special comb, which is composed of a set of nails in the shape of a hair comb in order to cutting straw bales until they become like girls’ hair, then we braid it and tie it on the chair…..The production of a chair takes a whole day after completing the process of preparing the straw, which takes 3 days.”

He concluded by saying : “Before the war on the country, we were exporting our products to many countries and we were number one in making bamboo products as they are of a high quality…But today exportation has stopped completely.”

The price of a bamboo chair is 200,000 Syrian Pounds, and the price of a baby bed made of bamboo is 250,000 Syrian Pounds.

In front of the Hamedeyeh bus station in Damascus there is a small shop exhibiting  an ancient straw chair, straw brooms and baskets made of cattail.

The price of the straw chair, which is being used in old houses and restaurants as decoration, is 75,000 Syrian pounds.