Lebanese women revive artisan work and appeal for official support

In its issue of today, Al Hayat newspaper portrayed the return to traditional women-made handicrafts, particularly after the ‘import boom’ in the past few years of cheap commercial goods which covered almost all aspects of household and fashion accessories and which largely affected the local artisan industry. Since the latter, the newspaper expounded, requires extensive and strenuous work, it cannot be sold at low prices and therefore cannot compete with machine-made imported commodities. In this respect, Al Hayat pointed out that after the disruption of training workshops in rural areas, social centers regained their initiatives, particularly those related to empowerment of Syrian refugee women and their integration in the artisan sector. This, the newspaper explained, has directly impacted their Lebanese peers who live in the same area. In a tour on a group of artisan women working from their home or in collective workshops, the newspaper noted a remarkable demand on their relatively high priced products. The reason for this growing trend, L’Orient Le Jour maintained, is that customers have a preference for the possession of unique and quality handmade goods rather than low-priced poor quality products. In addition, social media has opened the door to women to promote and sell their creations on their own page, without having to worry about the cost of shop rent. On the other hand, skilled craftswomen stressed a need for official support, notably from the ministries of culture and social affairs, to help in the organizing of group exhibitions and in subsidizing raw material, as stated by pottery artist, Samira Fadel. (Al Hayat, March 17, 2016)