Hrach Arslanyan is an artist and instructor of Armenian descent who is engaged in reviving murassa, a traditional Ottoman art that was forgotten for almost five centuries. Murassa is an art which involves the decoration of metal objects with precious stones. Arslanyan focuses on the work which goldsmiths used to produce for palaces in the Ottoman era, and is attracting an increasing level of interest in his projects. Hraç Arslanyan relates that he was mischievous as a child, but was sent by his parents as an apprentice to master craftsman Hagop Usta in the Grand Bazaar in İstanbul, and ended up teaching murassa himself.
Read More: An Armenian Craftsman Reviving a Long-Forgotten Ottoman Art