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Almost four decades after David Ohannissian of Kutahya stopped ceramic making in Jerusalem,
the Armenian Art Center was established by the Sandrouni
brothers in 1983.
The years following the establishment of this institution
and the Sandrouni ceramic workshop, were fruitful years of
intensive research and study in the works of David
Ohannissian, the father of the original Armenian ceramics of
Jerusalem. Our dedicated work, whether in research of
traditional methods and techniques or observing the
Ohannissian masterpieces that decorate historic buildings in
Jerusalem, set the course and the goals of the Sandrouni
workshop. During the many years of labor of love, we stayed
the course and continue to achieve our goals in restoring
the uncompromised and high standards of originality to the
Armenian ceramic tradition of Jerusalem.
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Today, Jerusalem and the internet offer an endless variety
of Armenian ceramics. Imitations of Armenian ceramics fill
the markets in and outside Jerusalem. Most of those
imitations are not made in Armenian workshops and don't even
bear the signature of those who make them. Some Armenian
workshops who claim seniority in the craft and originality,
try to secure their share of sales in the market for
Armenian ceramics by price compatibility, thus compromising quality. In the huge market for Armenian
ceramics, we care that every piece produced in our small
workshop, and bears our name, would be an original, one of a
kind piece of Armenian ceramic, produced with the highest
standards and careful quality control that would restore the
grace and dignity to this centuries old art and craft.
The tradition of Armenian ceramics is as old as the Armenian
people. Like music, poetry, sculpture and dance, ceramics
was another facet on the gem of Armenian culture, a culture
so rich and colorful that was shaped by the vast challenges
that faced a small nation. Armenian ceramics reached
unprecedented levels of finesse and originality during the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, when many Armenian families operated workshops in
Kutahya and Iznik, and contributed in decorating palaces and
mansions in Turkey, Egypt and Jerusalem. The beginning of
the twentieth century was the most critical and challenging
to this ancient tradition. Thanks to the "Pro Jerusalem
Society", and to the genius and vision of David Ohannissian
of Kutahya, Armenian ceramics found its new home in
Jerusalem, and its continuity was secured. The "Society"
supported Ohannissian, the artist and master ceramist, in
establishing Jerusalem's first Armenian ceramic workshop.
The master found his apprentices and craftsmen, trained and
employed scores of Armenians who arrived to Jerusalem after
1918, thus breaking all taboos that would make this art and
craft sterile and unproductive by exclusively belonging to a
specific geographic location or a certain family.
At
the Armenian Art Center, and the Sandrouni workshop, we
pride ourselves not only in bringing back the tradition of
Armenian ceramics to its original course, and elevating the
standards to such that a master like David Ohannissian would
have liked to see, but also in being Jerusalem's only
Armenian workshop that's open to the wide local diverse
communities for training. We strongly believe that the
continuity of this classical form, and its evolving
originality can only be secured by this openness that brings
in so many interesting artists and craftsmen, whose share
and contribution to Armenian ceramics is indispensable and
crucial, without which Armenian ceramics would be a sterile,
unproductive, undeveloping and extinct ethnic craft.
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-George (Kevork) Sandrouni
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