Monday, April 11, 2011

True East


Ever since I came to the Middle East, I have been looking for authenticity. Tourists and visitors often search out authentic food. As product designer, I wanted to find local, truly authentic products: things invented here, made here, and used here by the locals and their families.  This proved to be far from easy. The vast marketplace ­– from souks to supermarkets – offers products that inevitably fall into one of the two categories: multiple reiterations of European/American prototypes, or commercial items specifically concocted for tourist consumption.

Then I discovered something called mabkhara. The proof of these objects’ authenticity starts from the fact that the word itself does not translate well into the English language. Most often we use a descriptive expression “incense burner”; there is also little-used and confusing word “censer”. (“Distinguish from sensor, censure, and censor”, warns Wikipedia.) In all cases, both the word and the object itself come to stand in Western culture as a symbol for something alien and exotic – a component of sensorial Oriental allure, much celebrated in the European literature and the arts of the last two centuries.

To be sure, incense burner has been a familiar presence in many religious services outside the Middle East. In the Catholic Church, a censer suspended on chains is called a thurible, and is used during important masses. In Greek and Russian Orthodox Church, the use of censers is even more widespread. Every church prayer and ritual, from christening to burial, features a deacon swinging a censer (panikadilo) back and forth. It is significant that in both religions laypersons are not allowed to handle and swing the incense burner; this is a right reserved only for the ordained.

In ancient China and Japan, the use of censer was more open-ended and democratic, yet the object clearly retained its spiritual connotations. On the contrary, the Middle Eastern mabkhara is not a religious object. First and foremost it relates to the home, where it is a part of daily family traditions and some uniquely Arabic domestic rituals. There is, for instance, the habit of airing and perfuming the clothes, when a man or a woman would stand over a burning censer for a few moments to let the aromatic smoke permeate everything under the long robes. Other traditions guide the use of the object at gatherings of friends or family. During the meal and conversation it is common to have the incense burning in the majlis (special living room reserved for entertaining guests).  At the end of the evening, the hostess will walk with the burner around the room, as if to refresh the air. For the guests this serves as a clear signal that the party is over.

Daily use of incense burners is an inseparable component of sensorial culture of the East. The famous scents of the Orient: frankincense, myrrh, laudanum, sandalwood (oud), which to date remain the mainstay of all perfume manufacturing, derive from resins produced by desert trees grown only on Arabian Peninsula. Since ancient times, harvesting and trading these substances has been a source of wealth for the region, and the cause of many attempted conquests. From literature (e.g. sensual stories in The Arabian Nights) to architecture, with its elaborate secret gardens, the celebration of the sense of smell has reached a high level of sophistication.

Early on, it was discovered that burning the incense was the most efficient, and perhaps more spectacular way to generate and transmit the scent. According to Diane Ackerman’s seminal book A Natural History of the Senses, the hand-me-down model was probably applied to incense burning: first it was reserved for gods, then for rulers and their court, until eventually it reached the people, becoming a truly popular tradition. The burner itself has likely followed the same trajectory – evolving from a precious vessel to a basic object for domestic use.

Functional requirements for an incense burner are very simple. The object has to be sufficiently stable, and a good handle for taking it around is a plus. The top, where one places a burning charcoal briquette, must obviously be fire resistant. Beyond these simple needs, the object can take any imaginable shape and almost any size. And it does. Form does not follow function here. If anything, form follows the objects’ material and their traditional way of making. Every Middle Eastern country has a preferred material, special techniques, and a particular formal expression for its own version of mabkhara.  In addition, there are many contemporary kitsch versions, which simply defy description. (Presently I have started collecting and cataloguing various regional varieties of the object.)

When a designer stumbles upon a new, relatively unexplored product typology, he and she immediately start thinking about making a design contribution of their own. Does the world need a new, designer version of incense burners? What would be the nature of “design improvement” for these objects, which already serve their purpose so well?  Perhaps I need to stay in the Middle East a little longer before I am able to answer these questions. 
8 Comments:
Blogger RWordplay said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

April 14, 2011 at 1:32 AM  
Blogger RWordplay said...

Scent. Fantastic. as Ackerman reminded us, not only creates sacred spaces within both sacred and secular places, it also covers the stench of humans and creates a distance between delicate human noses and unwashed animals, with whom we lived in close proximity for much too long. But best of all it weaves a magic carpet, straight out of the "Arabian Nights" that carries us back in time. Lovely memories, not so happy times, but a whiff is often enough to transport us from the moment, and in this way, demonstrates that nothing is lost for good, or can be lost so so long as a flicker of light illumines of consciousness.

As for your question, Does the world need a new and improved version? You know the answer but I'll say it, "It most certainly does."

In closing, do bring me back a mabkhara, I've two incense burners, one Chinese, delicate, celadon, Chinese and a Japanese one made of tin for export, a third would remind me to light some of the sticks I've acquired some years ago in Tokyo and that today languish in a lovely black lacquer box.

April 14, 2011 at 1:38 AM  
Blogger grincense said...

GR international is a reputed manufacturers and exporters of Incense Sticks, Natural Incense and Natural Incense Sticks in India.

For More Details Visit http://www.grincense.com/natural.html

January 30, 2012 at 2:50 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...


good website Incense stick exporters blogs
contact this website.

January 10, 2014 at 6:15 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Hi
I just read your blog it’s really good and impressive having good information about the Incense Sticks Manufacturers & Exporters, Agarbathi Manufacturers & Exporters, and many other Incense sticks. For more details please visit our website

February 10, 2014 at 5:25 AM  
Blogger Aathira said...

Well said about the incense. Still, people are researching in getting more flavours of incense.
BIC Panchavati is one of the leading Incense sticks manufacturers in Bangalore, India. With more than 40 years of experience in the industry, the company has always focused on providing quality-assured products.The packaging can be tailored to client needs.

July 10, 2018 at 5:41 AM  
Blogger Jack Harry said...

Incense is aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burned. The term Incense burner is used for the container/holder in which incense material can be burnt. incense burner is used for aesthetic reasons, aromatherapy, meditation, and ceremony. If you are planning to add an incense burner to your leisure time and don’t know where to buy incense products then just click on Incense Universe

January 15, 2021 at 1:43 AM  
Blogger Incense Burner said...

First class incense gives a nice, long devour in light of its grainy surface. The total for the most part standard and best encapsulations to use when you're expecting to make a tranquil climate consolidate sandalwood incense cones. sandalwood incense

February 9, 2021 at 11:16 AM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home