The tapping and clinking of the filigree tools, a sunny day outside, dogs barking at the old bazaar in Zenica… There is a special atmosphere in the workshop of the filigree and goldsmith Sead Kaljić from Zenica.
Sead Kaljić mastered the craft in Sarajevo. He performed practical work with the renowned Sarajevo goldsmith Fikrija Konjičnin, who was a both a jeweler and engraver. By his side, Sead mastered three crafts on the account of one. He remembers how one time, when he was doing his practice in the workshop of the great master, he participated in the making of one special key – the key of Skenderija that was to be opened in Sarajevo them, the key with a special coat of arms and the knocker, decorated with special elements, was handed to the president of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito.
Sead opened the store in Zenica in 1974. He has been there ever since and he intends to keep doing what he knows best and loves the most. “I started as filigree in Zenica. As an industrial city, Zenica did not have much affinity towards the filigree work – petty embroidery with a silver wire – so I started working with gold that was better sold at the time”.
Speaking of the Women’s Day, Sead said:
“I have to be critical when it comes to March 8. National holidays, New Year, Labor Day, Women’s Day – all of these holidays were celebrated in the past, in Yugoslavia. The holidays had a value back then, including the Women’s Day. Florists and jewelers used to earn the most for Women’s Day”.
Today, Sead is the only educated goldsmith in Zenica, with a degree and regular education. There are around 40 jewelers in the city but, as Sead says, there are only a handful of real craftsmen. “The remaining are traders, those are just stores, not goldsmith workshops”.
However, Sead is optimistic – he believes that the handiwork he prefers will become trendy again sometime in the future and that jewelry of unique design will be demanded and purchased again.
In the meantime, when he is not making filigree objects Sead is trying to keep up with trends, in order to know what is fashionable and what is demanded and sold in the world at the time.
When asked if his wife gets a piece of jewelry for the Women’s Day, Sead answered:
“My wife loves jewelry and she has a lot of it. She changes jewelry all the time, but it is just bijouterie. If she wanted to have it all in gold, we would need a fortune”, Sead laughed and revealed that he still gladdens his wife with a piece of jewelry from his workshop from time to time.
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