Bethlehem artisans

Stories from Palestine

For Handmade Palestine, an initiative that promotes the sales of handicrafts made by local Palestinian artisans, I am producing a series of podcast episodes about the artisans and their work.
In this episode you can listen to two interviews with artisans in Bethlehem.
At Ma'an Lil Hayat we speak about the felted wool items that they produce, with local wool from sheep in the Bethlehem area. At this Center people with and without intellectual disabilities work together in the felting process. This is not only about producing felt items like nativity sets and Christmas hangers, but more so about a social life and learning skills for people with intellectual disabilities. In the interview you can hear them and the staff of the Center and you can feel how valuable this place is for all of them.
The father and son Tawfiq and Samer Kattan are silversmiths in Bethlehem. Together with Nadira Al Araj they work on producing silver jewelry in the shape of the olive leave. Each piece is unique because it is shaped with a real olive leave as the model. The olive leave burns inside the melted silver after it gave its shape to the pendant or earring.
If you want to see the items and possibly order online go to https://handmadepalestine.com
For updates on the opening of the country for individual tourists click here
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