9 stores · curated ORBIS register
Hand-painted Armenian pottery is made behind the retail room at Jerusalem Pottery, the Karakashian family's Old City workshop established in 1964. Its range includes tiles and tableware, with custom ceramic work also undertaken by the family. In the Armenian Quarter, Garo Sandrouni designs and paints pottery through the workshop run by Garo and Sonia Sandrouni. Yad LaKashish Gift Shop sells jewellery and textiles made in adjacent workshops, providing paid creative work for older Jerusalem residents.
Christian Quarter, Old City of Jerusalem
A Karakashian family workshop and shop making hand-painted Armenian pottery, tiles, plates, bowls, and custom ceramic work behind the retail room. The Karakashian family was among the founding families of Jerusalem Armenian ceramics and established this separate Old City workshop in 1964.
Best for Hand-painted Armenian pottery and tiles from the Karakashian family workshop
Armenian Quarter, Old City of Jerusalem
Garo Sandrouni's workshop in Jerusalem's Armenian Quarter produces hand-painted ceramics. Garo and Sonia Sandrouni make pottery and tiles, using painted decoration across both household objects and larger ceramic work. Visiting the workshop puts the finished pieces alongside the practice of making and decorating them.
Best for Hand-painted Armenian ceramics in Jerusalem
Garo Sandrouni's workshop continues a craft tradition that predates his own career by more than sixty years. Armenian ceramicists first arrived in Jerusalem in 1919, brought from Kutahya in Ottoman Turkey to restore the tilework on the Dome of the Rock; when that restoration project ended, several of the potters — David Ohanessian foremost among them — chose to stay, founding Jerusalem's first Armenian ceramics workshops and establishing the hand-painted, cobalt-and-turquoise style now closely associated with the city's Old City souks. Garo Sandrouni, working alongside his wife Sonia, an artist by training, opened his own workshop in 1983 on Armenian Patriarchate Road in the Armenian Quarter, building on that inherited technique while developing the couple's own decorative vocabulary. The gallery and workshop produce hand-painted tiles, plates, bowls, vases and decorative ornaments, along with commissioned pieces made to a customer's own design — a service that distinguishes it from souvenir-oriented pottery sellers nearby. Everything is designed and painted on site rather than mass-produced, keeping the Sandrounis' output within the same workshop tradition the Armenian community brought to Jerusalem a century ago, even as the surrounding Old City has changed considerably around it.
Musrara, Jerusalem
An onsite shop selling jewelry, textiles, Judaica, paper goods, toys, wall hangings, bags, and home objects handmade in adjacent artisan workshops. Yad LaKashish provides paid creative work and social support to older Jerusalem residents. Established 1962.
Best for Handmade jewelry, textiles, Judaica and paper goods from older artisans
Mamilla, near Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem
Shevach Silversmiths works in Yemenite filigree, a technique the family brought to Jerusalem when its founders emigrated from Yemen in 1929, and continues today under Kitov Shevach and his sons Omri, Assaf, and Shai. The Mamilla workshop hand-makes kiddush cups, menorahs, and mezuzot alongside custom silver commissions.
Best for Yemenite-filigree Judaica and custom silver ritual pieces
Bethlehem (traditional source for Jerusalem-area olive wood crafts)
Bethlehem Star carves nativity sets, crosses, and rosaries from local olive wood, continuing a trade that traces to the 14th-century Franciscan-run carving school that formalized the craft for Christian pilgrims. Pieces are rough-shaped by machine and then finished entirely by hand in the workshop.
Best for Olive-wood nativity sets and religious carvings
Nablus Road, near Damascus Gate, Jerusalem
Balian has painted ceramic tiles in Jerusalem since 1922, when Neshan Balian Sr. and Megerditch Karakashian were brought from Kütahya to restore the tilework on the Dome of the Rock. Marie Balian's pieces have since hung in the Smithsonian and the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Nablus Road workshop is now run by her son, Neshan Balian Jr., the family's fourth generation.
Best for Museum-quality hand-painted tile murals and custom commissions
Hebron Road 12, Jerusalem 9354206, Israel / Jerusalem / Israel
1982 project turning the former St John eye-hospital building into studios where Judaica artists, ceramicists and jewellers work, exhibit and sell; house site says applied-arts centre since 1970, ~35 workshop artists now (Jerusalem Foundation; house About).
Best for Judaica, ceramics and jewellery made and sold in resident studios.
13 Sha'ar Zion Street, Old City, Jerusalem, Israel / Jerusalem / Israel
Self-taught Hagop Antreassian entered the ceramics business in 1980; his workshop-studio across Zion Gate displays hand-painted Armenian pottery and visitors can watch him paint.
Best for Hand-painted Armenian pottery from a workshop where visitors can watch the maker.
38 Shivtei Israel Street (corner Ha-Nevi'im), Musrara, Jerusalem 9510561, Israel / Jerusalem / Israel
The public can visit the Print Workshop at 38 Shivtei Israel St and purchase existing artworks in its collection.
Best for Prints and artworks from a public workshop at 38 Shivtei Israel Street.
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