A journey to the world of copper and fire : Iranian coppersmithing , an original eye-catching art

There is no doubt one of the key metals that changed humanity through history is copper. In the bronze age, around 3300 BC to 1200 BC humans learnt to use the first alloys like bronze to make the first tools for hunting and defending, making homes and shelter to stay, making another tools to make clothes, domesticating animals, and starting to shape the copper itself, today coppersmiths use their ability to shape and form copper objects in a very talented and sophisticated way in manner that just by looking at copper working the masters you can find out how they transferred their experience from generation to another generation from thousand years and raised the quality and techniques of copper working until today in which manner that blow your mind make you applause . Most copper products are very simple in form but complicated in functionality. The story of copper starts just by hammering a piece of metal. copper is a malleable and ductile metal, you can hammer it, shape it , changing the from a sheet of metal to very complicated form like a vase or cup or kitchen utensils, you can form it like and earring or bracelet, you can alloy it by silver, gold , tin or zinc , you can electroplate it by cold or silver and at last you can use enamel on it .copper in the hands of copper smith is like a piece of wax, the coppersmith can shape it , form it , play with it and at last make a form that you cannot use another metal even itself as copper.it lasts for years and centuries, just by visiting museums you can understand how this metal shaped the history of humanity. Today the copper price is fluctuating because of the need in the market and shortages in production lines. Because Iran has very rich mines in the eastern part of the country the role of copper in Iran's economy is prominent. The purity of copper is famous and the final product is functional against aesthetic characteristics.

Copper of Isfahan , an ideal choice of interior decoration

Between all handicrafts of Isfahan, copper metal work has fabulous position, because in Isfahan, Masters of copper metal work or coppersmiths working copper by hand, all the productions are 100 percent handmade and even today they use very simple and small even machines to make the copper objects are made by their very own hand. Even looking at those simple machines and tools is like a safari to investigate the codes and secrets of desert by camel and following old fashion rules. The journey of a coppersmith starts by working with copper sheet metal. The coppersmith shapes the sheet of copper by a hammer striking metal on a very simple anvil, sometimes they use a small torch just to raise the temperature and metal and help the hammering and forming process and reduce wasting of time. Just by using these simple and old techniques, they change the shape of the copper sheet to some complicated forms like old fashion copper water bottle, kitchen cookware, copper buckets, copper table settings …etc.

Copper jewelry

Meanwhile the other coppersmiths that work more precisely and concentrate on details act like goldsmiths and sometimes goldsmiths work as coppersmiths to make some ornaments and copper jewelries like earrings, rings, copper bracelet or even copper bracelets for men which is more popular today. Because Iran has a very conservative society, normal men never use gold or silver according the strict rules of Islam, the firs and prominent religion followed by most population of Iran itself and other neighbors, today the new generation starts to use ornaments like copper which is recommended by many experts as a healing object and cheap in price and beautiful from the other side. Copper price is not as high as gold and silver and because of this characteristic many girls and women use it as an ornament instead of expensive gold or silver in the market.

Copper : red metal with amazing properties

Copper is red in color, it has specific and amazing characteristics and ideal properties to form and its longevity makes it a supreme metal to produce masterpieces that last for a thousand years. To improve the qualities of copper you can add other metals like tin and zinc and small amounts of other materials like antimony and make new kinds of alloys which today we know from old times as bronze, brass and other names that are not very important to know in this subject. Copper working is a prominent art in Isfahan, copper is attractive itself in a way even a small piece of copper can be attractive enough to use it as decoration or a useful object. If you check the timeline of human history, you can find traces of this very structural material from very old fashion products to industrial revolution, from very basic components to high-tech instruments, from very tiny objects to huge fans of the ships and submarines. You can find a trace of copper. If you can find an object that there is not a piece of copper inside it, be sure a piece of copper or copper alloys is used to produce it. Copper working was more important in the past than in the present. Remember even 40 years ago copper had more splendor in the market and a non-detachable principle of life in society exclusively as kitchen utensils and table cutlery. Most of the pans were made from copper. Spoons, forks, ladle, even plates were made mostly from copper and coppersmiths had their own bazaar to sell and bye and they had a reach and splendor business that today the local market has. Masters in copper working and coppersmiths had a very high position in society and they were rich enough to name their own streets or local buildings at that time. Today the role of copper and copper smiths is pale and they do not have the same position they had years ago. Today the people prefer to by stainless steel instead of copper as kitchen and table settings, the use of other material as kitchen pans like Aluminum is more convenient, plastics take the place of copper as a normal cookware, most people use glass instead of old fashion copper water bottle, most of the ordinary tools made from copper are changed to chromium steel and other metals. As an ornament and decoration people use other metals and alloys because of better quality and reasonable price. Even in some parts of electric industries like the high voltage copper lines, they use aluminum instead of copper because of the high copper price and some other characteristics of copper like the high density of copper against the low density of aluminum. aluminum is cheaper than copper and it is a self-protective metal like copper and has a long life against oxidation.

Copper market

Visiting Isfahan old bazar is fun, but visiting coppersmith’s bazar is another matter, it is colorful, the sound of hammering metal even if it is noisy is a very delicate experience which never forgets. You can find many small to big pieces of copper metal work for a cheap price even if copper price is high to indulge yourself and satisfy your very ownership desires. Buying a piece of copper work as a souvenir is very conventional even for local tourists visiting Isfahan. Today the new generation understood the healing qualities of copper and again the market is full of copper kitchen copper cookware and many people returned to old fashion copper cookware as our traditional families. The Younger generation use more ornaments for decoration like copper jewellery for their body decoration to their homes and offices.
Because of the high price of copper today and because of the richness of copper mines in the south and eastern of the country, the splendor of the copper industry in Iran from small to big factories is idiom. Today copper and copper related industry has an important role to raise of GPD and because of high potential of the economy to boom the copper market the government invests huge amount of money in the upper hand and lower hand industries of copper and there is a clear future for the young generation to follow this profitable market and invest their life and talent in related industry of copper and copper alloys instead of other jobs a subjects. Today fortunately in most universities you can find a subject related to copper and copper industry and many students are studying copper and related industry and after graduation they are absorbed in this huge market. Beside big industries related to copper, the small traditional copper market is striving to maintain and survive in this progressive brutally market. The last generation of coppersmiths are surviving in Isfahan bazaar or some other small cities of other provinces. But the coppersmith’s bazaar of Isfahan is still alive and visiting it is a very good chance for domestic and international tourists visiting Iran and Isfahan. So next time you visit Isfahan and Isfahan bazaar, never forget to visit the bazaar of the coppersmiths and copper working in Isfahan, we are looking forward to seeing you soon.