Iran has for the first time exported some 800 pieces of wickerwork by artisans in Khuzestan Province to its Arab neighbors in the current Iranian year, which started on March 21. The achievement is the result of a scheme launched last year by Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization to promote the art, which also helped improve the livelihood of those professionally involved in wickerwork production, Mehr News Agency reported.
"As part of the scheme titled Peyvand Caravan, local artists were motivated to produce quality handmade artworks aimed at export to southern Arab countries of United Emirates of Arabia and Qatar," said Amir Mehdi Taherifar, director of the scheme.
This is considered a noticeable success, for last year, not only Iran did not export any wicker items, but "imported a huge 138 tons of the products from China, Vietnam and Turkey," Taherifar noted, citing figures released by Iran Customs Administration.
First Step
"Empowering local artisans doing wickerwork would not be possible unless a target market is detected. Increasing the quality of works is the first step toward entering a market competition at international level which is the scheme's goal set for the current year," he said.
Iranian art of wickerwork, according to the official, will be also promoted along with the country's renowned carpet, enamel work, toreutics, Khatam, termeh and kilim, in a planned handicrafts shop in Antalya, Turkey, as an effort to introduce the precious works of art to the world. Documented as far back as ancient Egypt, wicker is a technique for making products woven from any one of a variety of cane-like material of plant origin, such as rattan, willow, reed and bamboo, as well as synthetic fibers.
