Learning the Adyghe crafts...

Interview with Asker Patokov
Asker Patokov – craftsman, saddler.

- As far as I know, you are the master manufacturing things of leather, and for several years you are engaged in the production of Circassian saddles with his brother, known saddler Aydamir Patokov. How long have you got involved in folk arts and crafts?

A. P.: Really, since my childhood I have loved to make something with my hands, to tinker. The crafts have always attracted me. Besides my brother Aydamir has long been engaged in manufacturing of folk musical instruments and in saddlery. I studied with him in the workshops of Zamudin Guchev and Vyacheslav Mastafov. So, Zamudin Guchev showed us how to produce the shychepshyns, how to weave the mats. The art of weaving mats interested me very much. I really liked the method with which he wove them, how he drew the ornament. Of course, I don't make them today. But I think that it is necessary to know this craft, although in old times the Adyghe girls and women wove mats. Therefore, during our short learning time, my brother and I, we gathered the cattail, material with which the Adyghes made the mats, cleaned it, sorted it out, and then dried. Zamudin Guchev showed us, at first, how to make small items. And I made my first big mat at home. Then I made several mats and offered them to my friends from the heart. However, weaving mats has not become my professional business. I just really wanted to learn this craft. Then the desire of Aydamir to find a good master of saddlery led us to Vyacheslav Mastafov. He immediately agreed to teach us. In addition, we had a chance to find sponsors. In a short time in one month, we learned how to make the Circassian saddle, although learning all the nuances needed more time. Today I produce leather seat cushions for Circassian saddles, as well as leather items of clothing and belts. Now I have a great desire to learn how to make silver details with Adyghe national ornaments and patterns, breastplates, jewelry for horse harness.

- Most recently, you have studied yourself to make hats, which are known due to the drawings of European travelers. How did it happen?

- Yes, it just happened so. However, there are not karakul pаоs (hats) and papakhas. How did it begin? I confess, I have wanted long time to make these hats. But I decided to do it only by necessity. It began with the film "The Prince Marukh", which is turned by Husseyn Daur. The actors’ costumes needed hats dating to historical period of the film story. We needed such hats where the edge was made with skin of sheep, and the upper part is sewn with fabric. In old times, adults and children, princes and free tfokotlys wore such paos. I didn't know how to make them, at first. Of course, I saw them in pictures and movies. But I had not enough information for full understanding of their manufacturing technology. Only when Husseyn gave me an old hat, which was given to him by his friend, historian Ruslan Kandor, I managed to do it. This hat was already quite worn out, somewhere torn, somewhere damaged with the time. First, I carefully dismantled it in parts, studied its cut and the method of its manufacturing. And then I tried to produce a new hat according to the model. It seems I have managed to do it. Now I can make such hats to order. Of course, they are made in Kabarda, their cost is 2 000 - 5 000 rubles.

- In early July of this year in Adyghea there was held a master-class of the famous artist-jeweler from Kabardino-Balkaria Zalim Tumov. You were its participant. Does it mean you have finally started to learn the jewelry?

A. P.: I was interested in the jewelry from the beginning, when I started to learn the saddlery craft at Vyacheslav Mastafov’s workshop. In the old days, the Adyghes decorated harnesses and saddles of horses with silver details. So I began to study these decorative items, which are well preserved due to resistance of silver. Even then, my brother and I, we wanted to learn how to make them, but we needed our own tools, our own material and finances. Nevertheless, since then I have begun to pay more attention to silver jewelry of harness and saddles, details on daggers and seshkhos, to look closely at exhibits in museums, to study them on books. I noticed that the Adyghes often have made them in the form of chamomile, heart or with geometric shapes- rhombus, rectangles, decorated with different ornaments. So, I had long time a wish to become a jeweler, and it encouraged me to search the master who could teach it without hiding the nuances, show his work and technique: how to start, how to shape metal, for example. That is to teach the basics that any jeweler should know. Unfortunately, In Adyghea, there are few masters who would produce jewelry items for national clothes and weapons and who also could teach.

- In your opinion, is it possible today to combine ancient technologies, which are still designed for manual work, and modern machinery and equipment?

A. P.: Actually, as a builder I have to work a lot by hand, and I was always attracted by things that I can still learn. I was interested in all that craftsmen are making, and so I tried to learn the secrets of their workmanship. I wanted to create the same things with my own hands and, of course, to enjoy the created. But for this I need to know ancient technologies. Of course, today we use modern technics and equipment. In practice, it has become clear that they can be combined in some moments. However, there are elements such as ornament, patterns and even handwork that present the Adyghe style. And here we cannot do something without the ancient technologies. As we know, nowadays handmade items are in price.
Surely, today the material has become more accessible for craftsmen, more diverse and can be found in large volumes. But it is still amazing how skillfully the Circassian jewelers made silver jewelry by hand, without required tools. They did such delicate work to decorate harness, clothing and weapons. Now, of course, modern tools simplify the work. For example, if we take soldering tools and burners. Today gasoline or gas is used for them. And in the old days, it was necessary to make a fire to such degree for manufacturing elegant filigree. It is amazing how old craftsmen created patterns with a thin wire of silver, made in the bone an inset of gold, decorated it with ornaments. Today, it is very interesting to understand how they did such work then, what kind of tools and methods they used. In our time, we can buy tools and material with money and it will be much easier to produce such items. But we can only with great experience to achieve the level of old masters jewelers.
Really, the handmade work is always highly appreciated. However, on the other hand, the features of modern technologies are also important today. I know one master who has started to make jewelry a few years ago. He has his own approach, his own technological approach. He verifies the dimensions with the microscope to almost a micron. When he engraves or whether gets any patterns, he considers them with a great accuracy, looks with a microscope for making everything even. At the same time, he does not draw ornaments himself with a pencil, as many masters do. He prints the selected picture due to the program, paste it on metal, and then he applies it with a thin needle to be more accurate. And so he does it every time, trying to make the pattern perfect.

- What kind of jewelry do you prefer to make in the future: decorations for Circassian weapons or for national clothing?

A. P.: Frankly speaking, I would like to study all kinds of jewelry, even the technology of making women's accessories. They are in great demand today. However, I still intend to get experience in manufacture of belts, gasiri and, of course, Circassian weapons. In the future, I will improve my technology at the best masters’ workshop, such as Zalim Tumov’s.
Now I try to learn the features of the Adyghe style in jewelry, so named the Adyghe theme. That is, I study it with models, in the books, where Circassian ornaments are well presented. In fact, all patterns, drawings, ornaments have already been studied. They can be found in the Internet. And special programs have been created for this purpose. We have to create nothing of new. Everything is already invented. We just have to print them and work. In addition, it is very interesting to study the work of modern jewelers. Learning at the Zalim Tumov’s master-class, I noticed there is more grain in his works, and it determines his style, in my opinion. That is, if you look at works of other masters and his products, his style can be immediately recognized.
During the Zalim’s master-class, I noticed that I have my own preferences. Probably, if we don’t like something, we will not do it. Yes, I like some elements. And although I have not an experience in this craft, but looking at the work of jewelers in the Internet, museums, books, I am more attracted by patterns with vegetable ornaments. And, of course, I like the grain too. In the future, I'm going to learn more in the complete program. In the meantime, I’m studying the ornaments and I’m trying to draw.

- And how long time will you take to learn jewelry to achieve the mastery?

A. P.: I believe, several years. And, probably, an entire life. In the condition to do it all the time. I like learning crafts, I'm interested in them. For me it is a hobby, a favorite pastime. But if to work professionally, it is necessary that the craft brings a constant income. In fact, I always love it that I do. If I don't like, I can't do it. In general, those crafts in which I'm trying to be engaged can be useful for someone. For my kids, if they're interested in them. Something will necessarily remain to them, my knowledge. Maybe someone will ask me to teach him. So, now I'm learning crafts as a hobby. Although it's in my blood. Our great-grandfather also did such things, tinkered, repaired roofs, make windows. He was Effendi in the village; the book about him was written. That is, the success comes with the work in our family.

- Thank you very much for the interview!