Study of the Diversity and Distribution of Wooden and Wicker Handicraft Workshops in Shiraz

 
Shiraz is one of the centers of handicrafts in Iran with more than 17 groups, 80 active fields and sub-fields handicrafts. Therefore, in 2019, Shiraz was registered as a world handicrafts city by UNESCO. After the group of hand-woven, wooden and wicker handicrafts have the most craftsmen in terms of quantity. Activists in this group are men and women in different age groups.
Joak Kari (a special type of inlay), bamboo weaving, Khatam (inlay), matting, woodturning, moharagh-e sagheh-e gandom (burning of wheat stem surface), Peykareh Tarashi (wooden sculpture), wood carving, Kapoo making (type of matting with colored yarn and mat), lattice work, Gereh Chini (special type of lattice work with geometric design), Monabbat-e-Choob (wood carving with small knife), Moaragh-e-Choob (wood mosaic), Moaragh-e-Monabbat (composition of mosaic and wood carving), Monabbat-e-Moshabbak (lattice work with wood carving), joinery work are considered as the fields of wood and wicker arts of Shiraz. The art of Khatam (inlay), wood mosaic and wood carving are the most well-known among the people.
 
Some of the wooden and wicker handicrafts of Shiraz are active in home workshops and others in small workshops with one to three craftsmen. In Shiraz, several families have been active for several generations in the field of Khatam, in other words, learning has been inherited in these families. In other fields of wood art, learning is more acquired and in rare cases inherited.
This paper, which is part of a research project, is based on survey research aims to identify, collect, identification of families with a history, and classify wooden and wicker handicraft workshops in Shiraz in terms of geographical distribution, number of workshops, the portion of these workshops in GDP, as well as employed manpower, will answer the following question. What are the craftsmen family relationships, diversity, geographical distribution, the portion of wooden and wicker handicrafts workshops in GDP, and abundance of these workshops by field in Shiraz? The research method in this article is descriptive-analytical and qualitative methods have been used in the analysis section. The required information is provided in the form of graphs and tables. Basic information, definitions and historical topics are obtained from library studies. Other information has been received by field research according to issue by the Deputy of Handicrafts and Traditional Arts of Fars province. Further information has been gathered by snowball method. The data collection tool was observation card and questionnaire form. In some cases, for better results, interviews with experts, interviews with researchers and activists in this field were used. In this way, comprehensive and accurate information can be obtained from the status of existing wooden and wicker handicrafts workshops in Shiraz. The statistical population of this research is Shiraz handicrafts workshops and the sample size is wooden and wicker handicrafts workshops.
Since the job of handicrafts is considered as the main source of income for most craftsmen, its role in the circulation of the household economy can be considered directly. However, due to the multiplicity, smallness and dispersion in the city, being home workshop, not having full time job for somebody, not being transparent in the number of financial exchanges in this profession and non-payment of taxes by craftsmen, any statistics in the economic field and its impact on the country's economy is approximate. According to experts, the role of handicrafts in GDP is quite noticeable. On the other hand, since handicrafts rely on domestic resources, it can be said that about 80% of the value of their data (such as labor, raw materials, production tools, etc.) is provided from within the country. It is possible that any increase in production and sales will have a direct effect on gross national income.
 The findings of this article show that 1360 craftsmen work in 1183 workshops in 16 fields of wood and wicker handicrafts. Among the various fields of wooden and wicker handicrafts, the Khatam has many applicants, followed by mosaics and wood carving, as well as wooden sculpture. Apart from Joak Kari, the fields whose craftsmen are less than ten people, its craftsmen have often migrated to Shiraz from other cities, such as bamboo weaving, Moharagh-e-Sagheh-e-Gandom (burning of wheat stem surface), Kapoo making (type of matting with colored yarn and mat), joinery work. In some cases, craftsmen have mastered another field in addition to their field of specialization, such as wood carving, lattice work, and wood mosaic. Although the number of women in the fields studied is less than men, but their number is also significant. Despite the large number of graduates in the field of handicrafts during the last three decades, their activities in these fields are low and the absence of educated people and designers among these craftsmen has made the designs repetitive. The presence of women was also prominent with a fragile difference compared to men, and it seems that the home-based activities of these workshops, especially the fields that can be produced at home, have been effective in welcoming women. In terms of geographical distribution of wooden and wicker handicrafts group in Shiraz, it can be said that they are scattered in the ten regions of Shiraz. The highest distribution of wooden handicraft workshops is in regions 5, 8, 4, 9 and 3, respectively. Wood workshops that provide wood art infrastructure or provide raw materials are scattered in regions 4 and 5 that located in the area of Adalat Boulevard, Rahmat Boulevard, and the southern ring road of Shiraz. These workshops are also considered as the main centers for furniture production. The wood sculpture and wood carving are more concentrated in areas 5, 4, 3 and 8. Among the wood arts, Khatam and wood mosaic are more scattered throughout the city.