“It is an art that needs passion and patience. Sometime it can take even a month to blend an artwork to your desired shape,” admitted Mohammad Assoudy, a Libyan copper and brass-engraving artist who has been in the profession for the last forty-seven years.

Assoudy and other Libyan artisans work in a disheveled narrow street of Sokel-Ghizdara in Tripoli. The market has been in existence since the 19th century and it has derived its name from the nature of its metalwork.

Ghizdara an Arabic word which means making utensils and other stuff by the use of copper and brass and coating them with a silvery white metal called tin (ghizdir). The market is located right behind Libya’s Central Bank. The market is a must visit for anyone who has a passion for antiques and cultural heritage. It is only in this market that one can discover antiques and trinkets dating as far back as a century.

Interrupted in the middle of engraving his piece, with his engraving tool in one hand, and a hammer in the other, he said, “Although tourists are our main clients, they don’t really play that significant a role in this business. Luckily, the locals too are the fans of this art.”

“Most sales are to governmental institutions, and private companies who order the antiques and the Libyan en-graved copper products to present them as mementoes, either to their official guests or to their esteemed retired employees,” he added.

The noise produced by the constant hammering on the brass and copper is almost unbearable to the ear, but the end result all this noise has a special appeal to the eyes. So fascinating and so beautiful are the products that it is very easy for one to part with his money to buy one of these ‘gems’.

Most traders in this market have specialised in inscribing and engraving brass and copper to come up with some very impressive Libyan traditional products, like the Libyan coffee tray, a pot that is commonly used to prepare the old famous Libyan traditional food-bazine and special jug used for the washing of hands.

Abdulrazaq, another trader at Sokel-Ghizdara said that the business is mainly targeted at both the domestic and the international tourist. Tourists, whose number is increasing every year, buy Eighty five percent of the products.

Other fascinating traditional art crafts produced by these artisans include copper plates marked with the Libyan map or palm tree, and the copper crescent shape similar to ones placed on top of mosques. They also maintain and renew some of the antiques.

Most of the traders at this market told The Tripoli Post, that when it comes to prices for objects they make no distinction between locals and foreigners. They are the same for everybody.

“Nowadays Libyans are more interested in decorating their houses with collections of traditional antiques that date back as far as sixty to a hundred years ago. Some also bring to us some articles that need repolishing. We are happy that the number of our Libyan clients is on the increase every day,” said Mustafa, owner of the Septimius Antique Shop.

Prices for copper or brass objects being sold at the market range between fifty to a hundred L.D However, there is an increase in the price if silver is used, because silver is more expensive than copper. Most of the products available in the market are one hundred percent Libyan-made. They vary between engraved plates, the bazine pots, chandeliers, moon symbols, etc.

Along the street in Sokel-Ghizdara, where everyone is busy inscribing his work, competition is always strong as there’s also a chain of other shops nearby selling similar products. Prices from one shop to the other does not vary that much. It really helps that the traders offer very good service to the customers, knowing that their ability not only helps them to retain their current customers, but also to establish new ones.

Some customers have a tendency to go back and buy more products. If well served, they normally refer their colleagues or family members to these traders. Satisfaction is highly important as it increases the clients’ chances of returning to the same traders for more.

“This is my second visit to this market, I just love it. Last year I came and bought a Libyan-made antique. I fancy the antiques that portray Libyan culture,” Jane, a German tourist who was touring the market told The Tripoli Post.

Besides the fact that it is a good source of employment, Sokel-Ghizdara also has an important role to play in upholding and spreading Libya’s cultural heritage. However, having said that, much more needs to done to the market to make it a real attractive and worthwhile destination for visitors. The unique creativity that is being portrayed in the production of the objects for sale should also be reflected in the place itself where they are being produced.

The Secretariat in charge of tourism and other stakeholders in the tourism sector need to combine their efforts to improve the general image of the market by at least carrying out an overall renovation of the market and its precincts. A face-lift is really needed as the broken floors and half-patched paintings on the walls might give one the wrong impression of the place.

It is also high time that the antiques business is steadily transformed into an e-commerce venture in order to help the traders to increase their sales and to cope with the ongoing online business competition.