Making wooden items usually requires a lot of raw materials and different types of wood. However the Palestinian carpenter Abu Omar Erqiq is known for his distinguished wooden products that are made of “nothing”.
Inherited profession
Abu Omar Erqiq 42 inherited the profession of carpentry from his father who used to make wooden containers for fruits and vegetables. A resident of Shuja’iyya neighborhood in the Gaza Strip Abu Omar has worked in this profession for 15 years.
Abu Omar told the PIC that before Israel imposed the siege on Gaza they used to import a special kind of wood needed to make vegetable containers but after the closure of the border crossings it became impossible to import wood.
“This has created a great crisis for us and other carpenters in the Gaza Strip” he said “Later we started to use Mashatih wood (discarded wooden crates) and with the deteriorating economic situation the demand for wooden vegetable containers decreased.”
Abu Omar continued “We had to convert to manufacturing other wooden items based on the customers’ needs.”
Mashatih wood
Making items from Mashatih wood is like creating something out of nothing Abu Omar said. Mashatih wood is the wood that comes through indirect import like the containers carrying various kinds of goods to the Gaza Strip markets.
When the goods are distributed the crates are usually discarded out onto the streets Abu Omar noted.
“Sometimes we buy the crates from the traders at a low price. After that we clean them and upcycle them into high value furniture. Beholders at first glance would guess the work was done with the finest types of wood. They get more impressed when they find out that the items were made of Mashatih wood.”
Various designs
Abu Omar with the help of his brothers and other workers in his workshop is known for his well-made wooden items like chairs cupboards frames and Ramadan lanterns.
He stressed that the Israeli siege and closure are major obstacles to their work. Gazan families can hardly afford to purchase food let alone wood antiques he said. “But that does not prevent us from developing our business day after day and what makes us convinced is that our prices fit the living conditions of the people here.”
