Beirut : City of Lines
-
Sub-type Journal article Author Nair, Parvati Title Beirut : City of Lines Appearing in Wasafiri Volume 28 Issue No. 1 Publication Date 2013 Place of Publication New York Publisher Taylor and Francis Start page 10 End page 12 Language eng Abstract For over thirty years now, Mr Abdel Halim Hicham has run a shop in the heart of Beirut's upmarket district of Hamra. On sale here is the woodwork inlaid with mother of pearl that he crafts by hand. Mr Hicham is a Lebanese artisan of a kind that is on the wane. He learned the trade at his father's knee and began work at the age of twelve. His is a family business, inherited through bloodline and Mr Hicham has a lifetime's knowledge of wood carving, of how to chisel the motehr of pearl into delicate, translucent shapes from broken bits of shell and how to inlay it carefully, in designs that are sometimes geometric and traditional, other times more flowing and dynamic. With utmost care, and slow precision, as if unaware of the passage of time, he glues each minute piece into the fragrant cedar wood of his country. Customers must wait until he is done. In fact, his show has more the air of a workshop, cluttered and used, the pieces of furniture, wall hangings and tabletops chaotically piled one on top of another. Some have collected dust and appear untouched for months. Others he polishes lovingly with a dirty rag dipped in turpentine. Mr Hicham keeps erratic hours. Often his shop is not open and potential customers can only peer in through the smudged window at the piles of inlaid woodwork inside. A handwritten message on the door cryptically says 'Call me', followed by a mobile number.
UNU Topics of Focus Migration Keyword Migration JEL F22 Copyright Holder Taylor and Francis Copyright Year 2013 Copyright type Fair use permitted ISSN 17471508 DOI 10.1080/02690055.2013.744791 -
Citation counts Cited 0 times in Scopus Article
Search Google ScholarAccess Statistics: 664 Abstract Views - Detailed Statistics Created: Tue, 30 Sep 2014, 11:31:55 JST