The Markets

The city of Gaziantep is promoting tourism, still a fairly rare thing here in eastern Turkey, by re-creating the old market system where there was a separate street of metalworks, a separate one for leatherworkers, a separate one for wood artisans, etc. We took a stroll down a couple of streets to see what they were like; on the way, we encountered a traditional tea salesman, here pouring a cup for our guide:

 Next stop, the street where the wood inlay craft is plied. Designs are drawn on the wood to be inlaid first:

Then the designs are carefully carved out with small chisels, after which small pieces of mother-of-pearl, bone or other materials to be inlaid are cut to fit the shape and glued in:

This backgammon set was a custom order that took the artisan a year to make; there are incredibly tiny pieces making up the design - it's almost too beautiful to play on!

 
Next, metalworker row:

The design is drawn onto the piece and then hammered out with chisels:

Here's a geometric piece, polished and ready for patination:

This man is patinating a large tray he's just made.