As I started to visit Iran, I started to meet Iranian craftsmen – often high up on rudimentary scaffolding.
I also started to realise how little is understood about their impressive skills and knowledge.
With many master craftmen (ustads) relatively old, and relatively few young men now wanting to undergo the lengthy, often dirty, and sometimes dangerous training, these unique craft-skills are now in danger of dying out.
I want to try to give a glimpse here into some of the crafts and master craftsmen of Iran.
I’ve focused here on the fabulous geometrically crafted muqarnas (or stalactite vaulting); on wall-painting and woodcarving; on brick-making and stone-carving; as well as on some of the many types of ceramic tiles used on Iranian buildings.
Muqarnas, sometimes called ‘stalactite vaulting’, are a three-dimensional form of architectural decoration of domes, niches and the underside of vaults. For the craftsmen-constructors, they require the application of detailed geometric principles; for the viewer, they allow infinitely imaginative reviewing
This stunning
tour-de force of Timurid wallpainting is in NE Iran. The eight-pointed star ‘floating’ on the ceiling is covered with interlaced 5, 6 and 8-pointed stars, and there is a perfect 16-pointed star in the small central dome.
Here, the ustad (master craftsman) is adding more small pieces of the ‘artificial stone’ to smaller defects in the memorial. Unusually, this ustad is a young man – most are much older
This is a packed brick kiln. The red colour means that these bricks have been fired. The clay walls of the kiln, buttressed by bricks, are used and re-used
