Abu Ahmad Muhtasib has been in the business of sheepskin crafting for 40 years, working from a beautiful 400-year-old stone building. He is very fond of the traditional and natural sheepskin processing methods in comparison to what he calls “foreigner tanning methods” and he proudly shares that people are asking for the traditional and natural sheepskins rather than the foreign alternative.
Usually the skins of animals from the meat industry are considered waste, but local industries, especially in Hebron, have been involved in the development of a historic market of tanneries. The merchants buy the skins and put them through a process of cleaning, salting and chemical processing to produce the leather that many local Palestinian industries are based on today.
Abu Ahmad’s clients come specifically to sample the vast array of sheepskins he produces and sometimes order them in bulk. He also sells his sheepskin to Abu Nidal, a blind merchant in the old city of Hebron who has a small shop full of sheepskin products such as carpets, Abayat (traditional men’s cloaks) and the most adorable and snuggly slippers.
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Product Selling Points: On location.