Consul General of Turkey in Tatarstan Ismet Erikan and his wife visited the National Museum of Tatarstan, in which this project is presented, in the last days of the exhibition of Tatar patterned leather mosaics.

The guests were told about the traditions of making national shoes, jewelry and accessories from leather using a mosaic pattern, tools used in the past and typical techniques for joining leather parts, as well as about craftswomen who continue to study and reproduce items of the national leather industry to this day.

It takes about two weeks to sew a pair of traditional boots with a national ornament, said Ekaterina Kuratova, a teacher at the Kazan Art School named after Feshin, to the Turkish consul and his wife. She demonstrated how the details of a leather mosaic are held together by making several seams on a special wooden stand. It takes about three days to decorate one pair of shoes with a patterned mosaic.

From the opening of the exhibition “Tatar Patterned Leather: Craft, Tradition, Art” in July this year, the needlewoman is holding similar master classes for everyone and a tour of the exhibits at the exposition.

“At the Kazan Art School named after Feshin there is a specialty“ artistic leather processing ”. We teach leather mosaic, gold embroidery, applique, burning and many other types of artistic leather processing, ”explained Ekaterina Kuratova.

Consul General of Turkey in Tatarstan Ismet Erikan noted that the exhibition is important for the transmission of old folk traditions in modern times, which will simply disappear without such support.

“It cannot be said that everyone will wear it and go, but this is important, and therefore one should not forget it. And we foresee, of course, that all the same under different special circumstances it is dressed. We also have traditional arts that are developing, something is leaving. For example, we make leather covers for the Koran, maybe it was here too, but it disappeared over time, ”Ismet Erikan said.

In the culture of Tatarstan and Turkey, he recalled, there are many elements that unite Tatars and Turks: a common language, religion and culture. It is very important to remind of this, demonstrating mutual projects like this exhibition, the consul noted.

“Today’s exhibition is so interesting that I think it should be made mobile and shown in different republics and regions so that everyone understands each other better and knows their traditions. When people get to know the culture of the neighboring people, the culture of each other, they become closer. In culture and tradition, there is nothing wrong, no anger, no confrontation. There is only good, only love, only sympathy, and they are generated. This is a very successful project. I would be very happy if this exhibition was shown in Turkey, ”said the guest of the exposition.