Geographical location:
Mashhad is a metropolis at the north-east of Iran and the capital of Khorasan Razavi province.
History
According history, Mashhad has long been the birthplace of culture, art, knowledge as well as the place and origin of important historical events that one of the most important one is the presence and burial of the eighth Imam of Shiites in this region. Also in 2016, Mashhad was
chosen as global city of gemstones handicrafts by the World Crafts Council
(WCC).
History of art and handicraft in Mashhad According to the latest data of the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization of Iran, currently about 370 fields are classified into 15 groups from
which 70 fields have been registered in Khorasan Razavi province.
Mashhad city, with more than 62 active handicraft fields, is one of the major cities of the country in this field. Also, with more than 8900 individual and group workshops and more than 20,000 artists and craftsmen, it is considered among the first three cities in terms of job population. It can be stated surely that Mashhad (orKhorasan Razavi province) is the center of precious and semi-precious stones cutting in the country. Existence of the mines of adornment stones, especially turquoise stone, in Neyshabur is one of the reasons for the prosperity of this profession in the province. Other than turquoise, semi-precious stones such as agate, peridot… is also carved in Mashhad.
Definition of handicraft fields associated with gemstones Making traditional jewlries Their raw materials are metals such as brass, copper, silver, gold … and stones such as turquoise, agate, jasper and so on. The production method is such that first the metals are melted in furnace and then are made in the desired shape by help of molds, and then, by placing the gemstones, the adornments such as bangles, rings, hair accessories, necklaces and … are produced.
Cutting precious and semi-precious stones:
Cutting the precious and semi-precious stones, each having their special hardness, is made in two forms of cabochon cutting and faceting.
Mekhraj Kari (Jewelry inlay): jewelry inlay on the adornments, one of the characteristics of stone handicrafts.
Morasa Kari: jewelry inlay (precious and semi-precious stones) on dishes
and other decoration objects
Traditional engraving on stone:
The concerned pattern is depicted on the gemstone and is engraved by a special carving tool until the patterns are revealed.
Turquoise inlay: inlaying small pieces of turquoise stone in mosaic form on the surface of dishes, adornments, and decoration objects
Designing adornments: it refers to the knowledge of creating a design, originated from an abstract or real image of a adornment.
Number of the artists of the fields(for the past two years):
Designing adornments 60
Producing adornments 844
Turquoise inlay 6
Carving on stone 35
Carving precious and semiprecious stones 480
Morasa Kari and Mekhraj
Kari 54
Total operating workshops
3108