Journal - ISHKAR, une sélection d'artisanat de pays en guerre

Soqotra: The Evolution of an Alien Island

Give a child a packet of crayons and tell them to draw a fantasy island, and they might well conjure up the Yemeni island of Soqotra. Soqotra is sparsely populated island of jagged mountains, pristine white beaches, and one of the densest concentrations of unique plants and animal species...

Lets work it out!

As humans, we crave order. For many, productive work provides this structure. The world around us might be chaotic. But with work we can, at least at times, control what we do in a way we are rarely able in other parts of life. Yet work is a right...

Traces of Aleppo

Zaina Sabbagh bought her first wooden printing block when she was 14. She found it in the Aleppo Souk where she was shopping with her dad. The little bird, has stayed with her ever since. ‘Its my lucky charm’, Zaina says. A personal talisman. Its the summer of 2016. We...

TImbuktu & Back

I remember singing a nursey rhyme about Timbuktu when I was in primary school. I can’t remember what it was now – was it ‘from Kalamazoo to Timbuktu’? – but I remember the images clearly. A fabled desert city at the end of the world where Arabs and Africans...

Handmade - So what?

Once a hipster trend, the desire for handmade goods has become thoroughly mainstream. It can be seen from the meteoric rise of Etsy, right through to proliferation of the word ‘artisan’ on products ranging from shoes to bread. Handmade products tend to be more expensive, and by no means...

Can 'crafts' really drive serious economic growth?

Crafts. There’s something about the word which evokes the very opposite of entrepreneurship, ambition, seriousness. ‘Crafts’ conjures images of grannies knitting, bracelets made out of shells, cross stitch, carved animals, beachside tat. Yet we would be wrong to think of crafts as a small sector at the fringes of...

Want to help Afghanistan? The case for buying over donating

The need for Investment in Afghanistan has never been greater The World Bank has ranked Afghanistan, as the 177th easiest country in which to do business with in the world. Unfortunately that was out of 188 economies. Here’s a quick barrage of some more dismal figures… In 2014 Afghanistan’s...

The Journalism of things

Every now and then a short video or article pops up on our newsfeed which tells a captivating story about Afghanistan or Syria that has nothing to do with war. For a couple of minutes we are reminded that countries like Afghanistan and Syria are home to talented, energetic...

Goodbye Peacock House, Hello ISHKAR!

When we set up Peacock House last christmas, we only intended to sell a handful of cufflinks in order to fund a nice post-Kabul holiday. The response we received was phenomenal, and we sold ten times the number of cufflinks we initially expected to sell! What started out as...

An Artisan Against the Odds

The closing of the Greek/Macedonian border in March left 15,000 refugees stranded in Idomeni. This area became the largest informal refugee camp in Europe since World War II.One resident of Idomeni’s creativity wasn't thwarted by the difficulty of his situation. In an admirable act of defiance, Mahran Jan worked tirelessly...

FROM TRASH TO TABLE: SYRIAN REFUGEE'S SOLUTION TO LEBANON'S RUBBISH CRISIS

Stepping out of Beirut airport you are immediately hit by the smell of rotting rubbish. It is a heady reminder of the rubbish crisis which hit Beirut a few months ago. With landfill sites overspilling, rubbish lined the streets of Beirut, piling up in forests and river beds surrounding...

Lessons from Lebanon

Whilst European leaders complain that Europe is reaching a critical point where it can no longer absorb any more refugees, and concerns over immigration have driven the UK towards an ignominious EU exit - with a population of just 4 million, Lebanon is home to more refugees than the...

Why Making Makes Us Feel Good

I have recently taken up carpentry classes. I have no talent for making things with my hands, and the few things I’ve been able to make are very poorly put together. But for three hours a week I saw, I sharpen, I sand and I hammer. And it makes...

AFGHANISTAN - QUE LIRE, QUE REGARDER?

Outre le blog de Peacock House, de nombreux ouvrages/documentaires de qualité soulignent différentes facettes de l'Afghanistan. Ce pays a fait couler beaucoup d'encre au sujet de ses guerres, dont il a été le theatre depuis 1979, mais a su aussi seduire ses visiteurs par la richesse de ses montagnes...

The Glassmakers of Herat

In Winter, a thick cloud hangs over Kabul as people light wood and coal burning stoves to warm their homes. As a result the last few weeks Kabul’s weather has been described by Yahoo weather as ‘smoke’. We left the polluted capital, for the western city of Herat for...

The Birth of Blue

Until relatively recently in human history ‘blue’ as we know it did not exist. There is no word for ‘blue’ in Ancient Greek, Hebrew, Chinese or Japanese. As hard to imagine as it is, ‘blue’ was simply not a colour the ancients were familiar with. As Dr Berke - a...

The Danger of the Single Story

Last night a car rigged with explosives targeted Le Jardin restaurant in Kabul. The explosion killed two people, and wounded 15 others. Delicious food and a beautiful rose filled garden made Le Jardin a quiet oasis in the frantic bustle of Kabul. It is now another corner of the capital...