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SEVAN THE CRAFTSMAN – Review – We Are Movie Geeks

Review

SEVAN THE CRAFTSMAN – Review

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Review by Mark Longden

Coming to a film festival near you, if you’re lucky, is this documentary about one of the world’s most famous jewellers. Counting people such as Catherine Zeta Jones, Elizabeth Hurley, Celine Dion and Liv Tyler among his more notable clients, Sevan Bıçakçı is a fascinating man operating at a fascinating time in the history of his home country, Turkey.

Born in 1967 to a crowded family, at the age of 11 Sevan was apprenticed to a jewellery designer in the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul, the world’s first mall (it’s almost 600 years old). He learned his craft from several “masters”, until in his 20s he decided to go it alone. His first pieces were copies of rings from magazines, made to order and requiring few of the many skills he’d picked up; then, around the turn of the millennium, he figured out a new way to carve into a jewel. Because my words won’t do it justice, here’s a picture of one of his many beautiful works:

This is the process which has made him famous, and since his first collection went on sale (based on the heads of Turkey’s most famous Sultans) in 2002, he’s won many awards, made a very large amount of money and employed most of his family. All while working in largely the same way jewelers have been working in the Grand Bazaar for hundreds of years – excepting his patented invention of carving into the stone, which is of course never revealed in the documentary’s 71 minutes. Although he’s very much of that tradition, he’s completely transcended it, to the stage where several imitators of his style are now operating in Turkey, and he’s nominated for awards for Islamic-influenced art, completely unheard of for a jeweler.

But, of course, this would not be too exciting on its own. We learn about Sevan, who started off as a completely ordinary-looking Turkish youth, and nowadays looks like a magnificent bearded half-mystic / half-hipster; his family and how they admire the singular path Sevan took; and his wife and kids. Sevan’s crying when his daughter talks about how she misses him when he’s off at some jewellery award show in New York, but is incredibly proud of him, says all you need to know about what sort of man he is. He talks slightly harshly to one of his apprentices at one point, and when he leaves the room whispers to the camera with a cheeky grin that he’s far nicer than his master was to him, and that his apprentice is a very talented kid.

The documentarians, producer/director Umran Safter and writer Ahsen Diner, are also interested in telling us about modern Turkey. Sevan is of Armenian descent, and although it’s never mentioned, the Armenian genocide by the Turkish (then Ottoman) government in 1915 gives a melancholy air to some of the old stories he tells. The area he grew up in and still lives nearby is a melting pot of people from all different cultures and traditions, and Sevan mentions how important this was and is to him.

There’s also the fascinating history of the Grand Bazaar, listed as the most popular tourist destination in the world (over 91,000,000 visitors a year, at the last count). When Sevan started as an apprentice there, it still had a flavour of its medieval origins, but now capitalism and Western influences are casting their bony hand over the place and it’s rapidly changing. This is occasionally for the better (apparently, there are certain massive sections which have no toilets, either public or private) but the loss of those traditions will be seen as crucial in the future, so argues the historian who’s interviewed.

The visual beauty in “Sevan The Craftsman” comes from the lingering looks at his many creations, some of which are almost breathtaking – (I talk as a person with no particular interest in the subject, having been informed of the existence of this documentary by my jewellery-obsessed wife). The precision of the placement of gems and the miniature paintings that adorn his rings…

Try not to be distracted that he sounds proud his most prized ring, his family ring, was borrowed by Michael Bay and adorned the hand of Anthony Hopkins in one of the “Transformers” movies. No-one is perfect. Just, if it comes to a festival near you, be sure to check out this documentary of an individual with an incredible talent and a great story to tell. You won’t regret it.