Shafaq News- Aleppo

Inside Khan al-Wazir, a centuries-old caravanserai in the heart of Aleppo's Old City, young men and women are learning to join wood without a single nail or drop of glue, in an effort to keep one of the city's traditional crafts from dying out.

The training is run by Turquoise Mountain, a British organization that works to revive traditional crafts, with the Friends of Old Aleppo Foundation. It centers on interlocking joinery, known locally as "takdik" or "ta'shiq," in which wooden pieces are held together by precise cuts alone.

Veteran Aleppo carpenter Nizam Salem leads the sessions, guiding trainees from handling raw timber to operating tools and machines safely.

Few craftsmen still use the technique, Salem told Shafaq News, because nails and adhesives make the work faster and easier. It takes skill and patience to master, he said, and beginners need close supervision to avoid injuring their hands on the equipment.

"The trainees will carry this experience to the next generations," Salem said. The aim, he added, is to preserve knowledge handed down over centuries and to build a team that can pass it on as Syria rebuilds.

Several of the trainees are women who have taken up carpentry despite attitudes that still treat it as men's work. Skill depends on desire and ambition, not gender, Salem said, noting that some of the women pick up the techniques especially quickly.

Sanaa Waez, a month into the course, enjoys how it builds from basic skills to hands-on work. She has faced comments and bullying over her choice, she told Shafaq News, but is determined to prove she can master the trade, and hopes to use it to earn extra income for her business before eventually opening her own workshop.

For Athab Zalat, the craft demands patience and a commitment to heritage over trades that promise quick results. People are often surprised to see a woman in carpentry, she said, but preserving her ancestors' craft matters more to her than their prejudices, and she urged Syrian women to trust their abilities and enter every field of work.

Mohammed Al-Alaa returned to Aleppo about two months ago after living in Turkiye and chose carpentry out of love for the craft. He plans to keep developing his skills, he said, seeing the revival of traditional trades as part of rebuilding the country.