Meerschaum Embroidery in Turkey

• What is Meerschaum?

• Where Meerschaum Is Found

• Meerschaum Embroidery in Turkey

• Turkish Meerschaum Embroidery Company Akın Lületaşı

What is Meerschaum?

Meerschaum embroidery in Turkey is one of the most valuable and laborious crafts. But first, let’s talk about what meerschaum is. It is a rock formed as a result of the hydration of magnesium and silicon-based main rock fragments within the metamorphic layers at various depths of the earth by hydrothermal effects. Archaeological studies have shown that people have already known meerschaum about five thousand years ago and they were using for different purposes. Today, meerschaum is used for ornaments and especially for making pipes. It is light, soft, and white. Thus, it is easy to handle. Meerschaum does not burn and floats in water. It softens when wet, but hardens again when dry. It expels moisture due to its porous structure. Therefore, it makes sense to mostly use it in pipe production.

Meerschaum embroidery, which started to develop in the 1940s, started to show itself as a handicraft starting from the 1950s. At first, it made progress only in pipe making. Later on, meerschaum eventually became a sought-after stone in ornaments such as necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and trinkets. Moreover, meerschaum embroidery in Turkey has maintained its place as a valuable craft over time.

Where Meerschaum Is Found

Meerschaum and similar minerals are present on some islands in Greece, Moravia in the Czech Republic, France, Spain, Morocco, and the USA. On the other hand, almost all commercially workable meerschaum deposits are in Eskişehir, Turkey. Thanks to the rich resources in Eskişehir, the meerschaum business has gained great importance in Turkey and foreign dependency has decreased.

People now use meerschaum not only for tobacco tools but also for the production of brand-new artifacts with high utility and aesthetic value. Meerschaum embroidery in Turkey also showed a great increase in the 1970s. The export of raw meerschaum was banned in 1980 and all meerschaum embroidery was started by masters from Eskişehir who were trained in the Republican period.

Meerschaum Embroidery in Turkey

Meerschaum embroidery is a valuable craft by experienced craftsmen in Turkey. It appears in pipes, other tobacco tools, and other design purposes. Meerschaum absorbs nicotine and water. For this reason, it is a stone that is mostly used in pipe making. It is easily processed due to its soft structure, but care should be taken when using it. In the microscopic field, meerschaum has a crystal structure. If meerschaum, which is very light and porous, is exposed to moisture or any gas after drying, it absorbs this moisture or gas to a great extent, and while it dries again, it retains the residues in this moisture or gas. Due to this fundamental feature, it is also a good absorber, filter, insulation, and filling material in many industries.

Meerschaum embroidery is a difficult but enjoyable handicraft that requires skill, experience, and patience. It is possible to make all kinds of processing on meerschaum with specially shaped blades. Meerschaum springs are located at depths of 300 meters below ground in Eskişehir. In the extraction of meerschaum, manpower and personal experience, and intuition gained over many years are used. Choosing the most suitable model for the natural shape of the stone is essential in the business. Thus, it is ensured that the stone is evaluated with the least possible waste.

Processing of Meerschaum

The most important source of the model is the observation and imagination of masters. Meerschaum processed in the designed way is dried for a long time by indirect heat and sanded very finely. Completed meerschaum artifacts are polished by dipping into bleached and sufficiently heated wax. At the beginning of this century, especially meerschaum embroidery started with the drawing of beads from pieces of stones by hand lathes. Afterwards, it has developed in a versatile way since the years of the Republic of Turkey.

Turkish Meerschaum Embroidery Company Akın Lületaşı

Akın Lülteaşı is also a company operating on meerschaum processing in Turkey. The company migrated from Kabaklar village of Kırcali Town, Bulgaria in 1972. From 1974, it came to these days with the meerschaum business in Eskişehir. It processes this special stone, meerschaum, which is hard to find everywhere, in order to continue and keep the culture alive. The company also produces mouthpieces, jewelry, and souvenirs. Consequently, it is one of the companies that spread the beautiful source of meerschaum in Eskişehir to Turkey.

If you wish to buy meerschaum pipes and accessories from Turkey, please do not hesitate to contact us by mail at  [email protected] or to call us at +90 532 361 5149. We can help you to get in direct contact with producers or provide you with everything that you need.

Please visit the company website for more information about their products. Further, if you want to know about companies in Turkey, visit our website.