Iraq’s pottery struggles to outlive plastic
NAJAF ( Iraq): Adel al-Kawwaz expertly spins the potter’s wheel, shaping the wet clay into a smooth jug. His family is famous for this millennia-old Iraqi craft, but Kawwaz is struggling to keep it alive.
For thousands of years, clay utensils for storing food and cooking were found in virtually every home in Sumer, the earliest known civilisation in modern-day Iraq.
Kawwaz’s own family drew their name from the jug, or kawz in Arabic, which they have produced for more than 200 years from clay found at a lake by Najaf, a holy Syiah Muslim city.
“Making clay vases is a craft that my family had become famous for,” says 45-year-old Kawwaz wistfully.
Pottery has deep roots in Iraq, where ancient civilisations turned to clay to build their homes, shape their cooking utensils, and even make their ovens.
Cuneiform, one of the earliest forms of writing invented by the Sumerians, was also carved into clay tablets.
But now, with a flood of more modern products, demand for the handmade clay items has dried up, says Kawwaz.
His family’s jugs were shaped from Najaf mud, dried in the shade, then baked at high temperatures for no less than 15 hours.
In Iraq, one of the hottest countries on earth, they were indispensable.
“These vases were used to keep water cool or preserve food. They were placed in the shade or hung in another high location,” he says.
Some Iraqis even used them to store jewellery.
“Those that practiced pottery would make a lot of money because they were common items in ancient Iraqi households,” says Kawwaz.
They were surprisingly handy during the era of Saddam Hussein, when many families struggled financially, as well as in the 1990s, when international sanctions hit Iraq. But times have changed.
“We sell very few now – the numbers in an entire year don’t hit 100 or 200 jugs,” says Kawwaz.
Farmers who once used the large containers are opting for cheaper goods, made either elsewhere in Iraq or imported.
“They buy plastic bags imported from China, so now we rarely sell clay pots,” says Kawwaz.
He makes the vases by special request only, but admits it’s hardly worth it.
Small jugs cost just 2,500 dinars (RM8.7), while the larger cauldrons that hold several dozen litres are sold at 15,000 dinars (RM52). — AFP