The Armenian Ceramics of Old Jerusalem

By Sylvia Bourdjian-Matta

Azad-Hye, Dubai, 20 October 2006: The Balian Family of Jerusalem has been
producing exclusive hand painted ceramic tiles and pottery since 1922. This
makes them the oldest business in existence in Jerusalem.

The business is currently operated by Neshan Balian Jr., whose grandfather
Neshan Balian, a master potter, came to Jerusalem in 1917 from Kutahya,
Turkey. He was brought by the British government to renovate the ceramic
tiles of The Dome of the Rock.

We contacted Mr. Neshan Balian Jr. and asked him the following questions:

– What is remarkable in the Balian pottery and why do you call yourself
‘Ceramics of Palestine’?
There are quite a few so called Armenian ceramics artists in Jerusalem
nowadays. Apart from the Karakashians, they all started about 10-15 years
ago when the word "Armenian Ceramics" started to become a common term in the
tourist and designer market in Israel/Palestine.

I think the most remarkable aspect about Balian pottery is that we produce
all of our pottery ourselves. We do this from scratch; meaning we import the
plastic clay from Italy and then form it ourselves on the wheel (or press it
on special ceramic presses for items such as plates, trays etc) and fire it
for the first stage which is called the "biscuit" stage. At this stage the
pottery is white and porous and the girls hand-paint the pottery which is
then re-fired with a coating of glaze to give the final glossy product. No
other so called "Armenian Pottery" studios in Jerusalem produces their own
biscuit pottery. They all buy it from the Hebron potters which produce the
imitation mass produced Armenian pottery in the souk and then paint those
pieces and fire them in their small kilns. How can you call yourself a
potter or a ceramist when you are not producing your own original pieces and
just painting on ready made objects?

The reason the place is called Palestinian Pottery is that when the studio
was established by my grandfather Neshan Balian and Mr. Karakashian senior
in 1922, it was called Palestine Pottery. When the Balians and Karakashians
separated, my father changed the name from ‘Palestine’ to ‘Palestinian’. We
did not change the name when the Jordanians came in 1967 to Jordanian
pottery and did not change it to Israeli Pottery when the Israelis came. At
the end of the day, we are Palestinians of Armenian roots so we have to
respect the community that opened their arms and took us in during the
Genocide. That was the Palestinian Arab community. That is also why we have
two websites where we do most of our work now. One is the
and the other is the
website. We are proud of both of our heritages.

– How can somebody recognize the Balian pottery? Do you have any sign on
your products?
We have distinctive inscriptions behind all of our pottery. The name
‘Jerusalem’ is written in English and – given space considerations – either
the letter ‘B’ (in Armenian) or a full ‘Balian’ (in Armenian) is written
under each piece.

– Is there any Balian ceramic piece of art used in a world-known monument,
apart from the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem?
I can mention a beautiful meditation center in Holland, a church in Lyon-
France, "Zahran Palace" in Jordan and hundreds of other installations in
hotels, palaces, residential villas, swimming pools, fountains etc.

– What is remarkable in Armenian pottery (color, form, design.etc)?
I think the question should be what is remarkable about "The Armenian
Pottery of Jerusalem" rather than Armenian pottery. Armenian pottery is an
identity of Jerusalem rather than that of Armenia or anywhere else. Sure my
grandfather came from Kutahya and that 70% of the artists there were of
Armenian roots but the whole industry was known as Turkish or Kutahya
Pottery. It is only in Jerusalem that this art truly took its own identity
and this was true the hard work of such people as the Ohanessian,
Karakashian and least but not last the Balian family. I know you are going
to think I am being biased over here, but what truly gave Armenian Pottery
its true identity was the unique artistic influence of my mother Marie
Balian. She gave new life to the designs which my grandfather and Mr.
Karakashian Sr. were reproducing from the Kutahya influence. With her French
Beaux art training and talent she introduced gazelles, birds and the animals
which were never an important part of the Kutahya repertoire. Her loose and
free floral curves and patterns is what started attracting Israeli artists
and journalists to the factory, and slowly some of them started realizing
that this really is a unique form of art very different form anything else
and with its own identity. Once articles started being written, books about
us being printed and museums exhibitions opening then the "Armenian Ceramics
of Jerusalem" term was coined. Once the fame started, then a lot of young
people around the Armenian convent started to take advantage of this fame by
setting up small studios and using the Armenian Ceramics name. Some were
talented and evolved their different styles but most just copied our work.

– What are your future plans and goals?
There are two choices you can make; either stay small as a two person studio
as most others or expand to become a much larger operation. I have chosen
the latter and have studios in Amman, Jordan and yes Beirut, Lebanon. We are
soon going to open in Dubai and a new one in Armenia proper. We are second
to none in terms of technical and artistic knowledge and I am applying both
to come up with new products and ideas to make our work fresh and appealing
to a wider range of an audience. We sell mostly to the United States through
our unique websites. We are slowly moving to the Gulf countries to take
advantage of the huge markets there.

Photos and full article at:
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