Artisans cut, smoothe and polish raw marble into pieces of art. The marble craftsman is a direct descendant of one of the 20,000 labourers who built the mausoleum over a period of 17 years
Mohammad Ayub has a close connection with the Taj Mahal. The marble craftsman is a direct descendant of one of the 20,000 labourers who built the mausoleum over a period of 17 years.
Originally from Rajasthan, Ayub now works at Al Banna Marble in Dubai, where he ensures the rich tradition of marble carving he has inherited by way of his lineage continues to be etched in history.
His employer Rasheed Hallak, blushes at any hint that he might be remembered as a 21st century Shahjahan [the Mogul ruler responsible for the Taj Mahal], even though some of his designs and creations serve as visual mnemonics of Mogul architecture.
That was a landmark in the field of architecture, as it saw a harmonic balance between many influences and styles, Hallak says, when asked of the period.
The civil engineer, who has worked with marble for more than two decades says his technical education attracted him to the industry, but when he realised the creative possibilities, he never felt a desire for change.
The creative satisfaction a person gets on working with marble and then seeing the clients reaction to the final piece provides the motivation to keep going, he says. If clients saw the origins of their final product, that reaction would undoubtedly be one of shock.
Process to perfection
The high price of marble is dictated by the complicated and difficult extraction process.
Marble from Iran, Spain and Italy is widely believed to be of the highest quality, with the chemical composition also playing a role in determining the price. White marble is considered the purest and not surprisingly, the most expensive.
Marble arrives in its most raw form at Hallaks workshop, where the giant slab of stone goes through different procedures and treatments, before it makes it to the skilled artisans table.
The stone-cutting process consists of fixing the raw stone on a trolley set on four steel columns. A gang saw unit comprising multiple blades, anchored to the columns, cuts the stone into slabs of prescribed thickness.
This cutting machine can cut with incredible precision, Hallak says narrowing the gap between his index finger and thumb.
Yes, as thin as three millimetre, he says and then points to the giant machine that seems incapable of cutting marble into anything but large slabs.
The smaller slab is then cut into the desired shape of the final product, after which its surface is smoothened and polished.
One of the most desired requests these days is the marble staircase and columns, says Hallak. As he speaks, a machine draws out the fine lines on a cut and smoothened column.
Polishing and engraving the finer features on the piece is the last part of the assembly line process. A lot of the work is quite routine, but the real thrill is watching the entire procedure of producing a work of art emerge from a simple piece of stone, Hallak says.
Hallaks fondness for sharp detail prompted him to embark on a creative journey with marble and onyx as his companions.
I usually work on the computer and my idea of design is not only conceiving the shape and form of pieces but also using facets from various styles to decorate it, he says.
The huge blocks of raw marble in Hallaks workshop look dull and dreary and its hard to imagine different colours of pure marble extracted from them.
The colour of marble comes out with water, which is why I usually travel during a source countrys rainy season, to visit the quarries, Hallak says.
His other pet love is onyx, which he explains as a type of marble. The difference is that it has the characteristic of transparency that ensures it can take in any light and any colour, he says, showing a piece of blue onyx that he produced locally.
Onyx is much more valuable than marble because there is a lot of wastage during the cutting process, he says.
Cutting transparent onyx has to be done with extreme care and finesse as the material cracks easily if done by an amateur.
But in the case of this marble man, his workshop, he says, has achieved the right balance of machinery and man to create curios and decorative pieces that reflect a similar harmony.
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