A paradise of beads and threads in Prizren
Through photography
Both sides of the street from the Bazhderhane neighborhood to the Hamam in Prizren are lined with jewelers and shops selling bridal clothing. Following that street is all it takes to complete a bride’s outfit. But, if you cannot find anything there, the next stop is the Qylhani bazaar.
You can find everything you need in this bazaar, from large suitcases to small beads that end up on clothing or jewelry. Despite their small size, the beads are important. Their brightness, color and diverse shapes are essential for decorating clothes and making them more distinctive.
A small shop on the road to the Qylhani bazaar is a paradise of beads, ribbons and bridal crowns.
“Over 1,000 products, if you count them individually,” said Erkan Cukiqi, the owner of this bead shop, as a woman entered. She tried on a bridal crown, as many others were placed in front of her.
The mirrors in the shop amplify the brilliance of the beads, which arrive partly as raw materials and then are crafted by Cukiqi.
He is 34 years old and inherited this craft from his father and uncle. They took up beadwork and other decorative crafts as a tradition passed down from their mother, who sold beads for bridal wear in the 1970s.
As a member of the Roma community, Cukiqi said that he hasn’t encountered any difficulties. He attributes this to his father, who continues to work alongside him to this day.
“My father supported me a lot. I’ve only made progress, I didn’t experience any difficulties”, he said. As a 17-year-old, he embarked on a journey through Europe to find new ideas and expand the product range that his father had already established.
He sells twisted threads of beads. In Gjakova, these are made with a tool known as a çëkërrk, which is rotated like a bicycle wheel.
“The demand was great. I managed to make 10 pieces on my own, but I thought that maybe someone has a machine for this and I started looking,” said Cukiqi, who managed to find a machine in the end. Now, Cukiqi’s nine employees work 24 hours in three shifts.
Currently, Cukiqi’s beads cover a part of Kosovo and North Macedonia’s markets, though he also exports them beyond the region. Despite the fact that for many years subsidies have been allocated to businesses owned by non-majority communities in Kosovo, Cukiqi did receive any such support until last year. With the subsidy received from the government of Kosovo in 2023, Cukiqi invested in new machinery. These machines should reduce the dependency on imported threads, particularly for spinning with gold. The gold threads are used to sew traditional clothing such as golden bridal vests and full bridal outfits, which he will make himself.
The range of products that Cukiqi plans to produce does not end here. His goal is to create each phase of the production process himself.
Photos: Atdhe Mulla / K2.0.
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- This story was originally written in Albanian.