Palestinian Pottery

Palestinian Pottery
Armenian Ceramics – Balian
TypeFamily-owned workshop
IndustryCeramics
Founded1922
FoundersNeshan Balian Sr., Mgrditch Karakashian
HeadquartersNablus Road, East Jerusalem
Key peopleNeshan Balian (director)
ProductsHand-painted tiles, tile murals, pottery

The Palestinian Pottery (today trading as Armenian Ceramics – Balian) is an Armenian ceramics workshop on Nablus Road in East Jerusalem. It was founded in 1922 by the potter Neshan Balian Sr. and the painter Mgrditch Karakashian, two of the Kütahya craftsmen brought to Jerusalem in 1919 by David Ohannessian to restore the tiles of the Dome of the Rock. Run by the Balian family for four generations, it is one of the oldest ceramics workshops in the city, and was the studio of the muralist Marie Balian.