TEHRAN -- The aisles of the 4th International Handicraft Exhibition were packed with avid visitors carrying bags with their purchases and stopping at various stands from time to time to check out their handmade artworks.

The International Handicraft Exhibition which debuted at the Tehran International Permanent Fairground from June 10th to 15th provides an exciting opportunity for visitors to find variety of handiwork all in one venue at fair prices.

To warmly welcome visitors, eye catching black tents (siah-chador), normally used by Iranian nomads, were erected outside the exhibition halls.

At the event, sellers were wearing handmade and colorful outfits as well as traditional costumes to welcome and attract customers to their craft booths.

Due to the wide range of handicrafts in Iran, it was not surprising to find over 400 stands at the exhibition, making the selection an easy task for the visitors.

Among the handmade items at the exhibition were rugs, kilim, jajim, and gabbeh, woven in different provinces of Iran.

The rugs, far more affordable in comparison to the Persian carpets, were offered in medium, small, and runner sizes to customers.

Ornaments including semi-precious stones and home decorative items had too their own market among the young visitors at the venue.

Although the prices were quite reasonable at the venue, customers should bare one thing in mind that the end price of handicrafts is higher than other industrial products due to time-consuming process of manufacturing, which engages several people.

At the exhibition, I had a chance to talk to an Isfahani artist who told me that most people are unaware of the time-consuming process of textile printing. ""The preparation of textile for printing has different and complicated stages but nobody knows about that,"" he lamented.

The handicraft industry is never separated from cultural heritage and it is more attractive if is offered within its cultural context, the artist said.
In recent years, Iran's handicraft production and marketing have been one of the main concerns of Iranian officials and handicraft activists.
As the deputy director of the Handicrafts Department at the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts, and Tourism Organization, Bahman Namvar-Motlaq has put it, “the industry [handicraft] faces a paradoxical situation in Iran; despite having a limited market in the county, it has a high potential to turn into a profitable industry.”

Expensive or not, handicrafts are finding their way into the hearts and homes of people and such exhibitions are living proof to that.

SB/DG
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