The humble yet glorious bucket
- Ali makes wooden buckets traditionally used at Moroccan baths
- Cedar wood, copper and rope are his main materials
- He inherited his craft from his father and grand-father
Ali Essalhi's craft is inherently connected to Moroccan hammam culture. In Morocco, going to the hammam has several and various purposes and meanings. Beyond the hygienic purpose, the hammam is a highly social arena. Men converse among men, and women of all generations and horizons come together to talk, too. A huge part of the communication in the medina transits through hammam gatherings. Going to the hammam also has a religious dimension as ablutions are part of a daily ritual. Ali handcrafts his hammam buckets with a sense of the cultural weight of his objects. He assembles wooden slats tightly before binding them with copper bands and the challenge is to ensure water-tightness. Cedar wood is the traditional material, partly for its transporting scent. Today Ali has no successor in sight as his two sons have chosen other professional paths, and so the future of hammam bucket handcrafting remains a question mark.
Interview
- Why did you start working so early and how did you learn your craft?
- I started to work at the age of ten. I would go to the workshop where my father worked and started to help him. My father and my grandfather, both were hammam buckets manufacturers. Little by little I got caught up by this passion for wood myself. This is a family business.
- Do you still have enough customers so that your craft can survive?
- Yes, lots of tourist love these buckets made of cedar wood, copper, and rope. They are light, beautiful, useful and cedar smells very good. And I also have very faithful local clients who use my buckets in their private hammam, in hotel hammams, and they are also coming back to public hammams more and more.
- What does well made mean to you?
- The shape and the structure of the bucket need to be perfect as they will be filled with water. The water must not leak out. The wood needs to be sanded down to have a smooth and beautiful aspect, the copper should be bright. I need to be proud of every bucket I make. I have a reputation to uphold!
- Could your craft be considered in danger?
- My sons have studied at school and university and none of them ever expressed the desire to be a craftsman like their father. I understand. Although it is very enjoyable work it is not easy. My workshop is not large, I sit on the floor and winters are cold in Fez. I am not sure who will manufacture the traditional wooden hammam buckets after my death.
Ali Essalhi is an expert artisan: he began his career in 1965
Where
Ali Essalhi
