Syrian Glassblower — Aleppo Craft Workshop
649.00 د.إ
A Syrian glassblower at his workshop in the Aleppo old city — the molten glass gathered on his blowpipe glowing orange at 1200°C, his cheeks inflated in the blowing phase, the workshop’s recycled bottle glass batch visible behind him.
Description
The glassblowing tradition of Aleppo is one of the oldest continuously practiced crafts in the world — Aleppo’s position on ancient trade routes and its access to natron (natural soda) and silica sand established the city as a glassmaking centre from the 3rd millennium BCE. This documentary portrait was made in a family workshop in the old city’s craft quarter with the workshop owner’s agreement, the subject in the blowing phase of a vessel creation: the molten gather at 1200°C glows orange on the pipe, and the glassblower’s cheeks are inflated in the controlled breath-pressure application that shapes the bubble. The workshop background shows the batch of crushed recycled bottle glass waiting for the next melt cycle. Shot at 1/500 second on a 50mm prime at f/4 to capture both the glowing gather and the workshop context, the orange-white of the molten glass is the dominant light source in the image.
