Tunisian Arts & Crafts
Tunisia’s richest crafts traditions, in my opinion, are ceramics and carpet weaving, which I’ve covered in the posts on Nabeul and Kairouan, respectively. But that’s not all that’s going on here, so let’s take a look at a few other highlights.
Blown Glass
Tunisia has a long, rich history of glass blowing. Which for some reason died out as an art form in the 14th century. Enter Sadika Keskes, a Murano-trained glass artist determined to revive the craft. After returning to Tunis from her studies, she opened her own studio and conducted the research necessary to recreate Punic glassmaking techniques. Sadika is a force of nature and a national treasure, so we had to visit her studio in Gammarth, just the other side of La Marsa.
I have no idea if this is one of the Punic techniques she reproduced, but her calling card is blowing glass through metal frames. We were dubious about getting glass home safely, so we asked about shipping. They ship! We’re happy. Only wholesale quantities. We’re sad. We’re returning with none of Sadika’s beautiful work, but the showroom visit was still a blast.
The goblet in the foreground showcases her technique, with the glass pushing outside the frame. 
The glass lights have been blown through the metal frame, which isn’t obvious on first glance. The glass could be individual pieces dropped through the frame, but where’s the degree of difficulty in that? We’d own this fixture if they shipped. 
You can see the technique very clearly here. 
Her work is a lovely combination of breathtaking technique and playful aesthetic.
Chechias
Strictly speaking, we didn’t buy a chechia. But we did buy hats from a Chechia maker who’d branched out into more modern shapes. I tried on a chechia, to be a good sport, but I looked exactly like what you’d expect: an organ grinder’s monkey. OK. More like an organ grinder’s monkey.
Dressmaking Supplies
The Medina in Tunis is divided up into zones, one of which is devoted to tailor’s supplies. There’s clearly a robust clientele, as the fabric and trimming options are dense. It reminds me of LA’s fabric district, only with more interesting inventory.
Jewelry
There is so much jewelry, an entire district in the Medina is given over to it.
While there’s plenty of beautiful work, one shop particularly stood out. Down a little alley, behind a frankly grubby facade, we found an old man who made exquisite enameled Art Nouveau jewelry. Not quite old enough to have been making it from the beginning, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he was second generation and had inherited the shop from his parents.
All of the work was his, the prices were ridiculously low (I refused to accept change for the earrings), and he was clearly working from a lifetime of knowledge and experience. Dorothy picked up earrings, and then we went back so she could get a necklace.
Medina Crafts
Like Morocco’s Medina, the Medina in Tunis offers a rich array of traditional crafts: wood, metal, leather, and glass, as well as antiques.
This doesn’t even begin to hint at the depth of the clothing stores. 
While we found lots of traditional clothes that had been glammed up, we didn’t see the range of high fashion that Marrakech offered. Maybe it’s not in the Medina. 
Plenty of the Medina is for locals, not tourists. 
Carpets, natch. 
Lots of textiles: shawls, towels, blankets, linens… 
The Roman-style mosaics are a thing. A weird thing, but a thing, 
The metalwork is made right in the Medina, not stamped out in factories. 
The luridly colored metal is a signature Tunisian look. 
They make olive wood into just about everything. 
We said we were done shopping, but these were so light. And so alluring. 
Beautiful dyed grass baskets. 
*sigh* We bought one. It’s heavier than the spoons, but I think we’re throwing all our clothes out to make room in the suitcases. 
Leather. 
Shishas and supplies. 
An antique Berber cigarette case. 
An amazing antique Berber wedding dress. 
Music
Yes, yes, we’ve already established that music is a craft. Try to keep up.
We haven’t seen much music in Tunisia. Or anywhere else for that matter. It’s pretty easy to find museums, galleries, and artisans, but decoding the listings for music has been more complicated. Since we’re not experts in the local styles, it’s hard to know what you’re signing up for. Plus, given that much of the music scene is club-based with late start times, we don’t see nearly as much music as we’d like.
But just off the Medina in downtown Tunis sits the Théâtre Municipal de Tunis, a jewel box of an Art Nouveau concert hall built in 1902. They have an easily decipherable schedule and a reasonable curtain time, so we just picked something almost at random. We wound up seeing Spectacle El Gobba, a massive troupe presenting an evening of Sufi music. Sure. Why not. Spectacle!
Counting the director, the troupe was 27 strong: 8 singers (2 women and 6 men), 8 percussionists ( 1 Western drum kit and 7 playing an array of traditional percussion), one each of keyboards, flute, bass, and violin, and, finally, 6 dancers. And a partridge in a pear tree.
For no particular reason (ignorance?), I was expecting something more trancelike, but it was an evening of high energy performance. They have their own Facebook page and their own YouTube Channel, but I’ve got a few live snippets below.
Caution: extensive use of traditional Sufi lasers. You’ve been trigger-warned.
