Have you wondered how innovative ideas are born?  When something new comes up, is it an organic development or a reaction to the ever-changing reality?  Do you pause to assess if innovative product is manipulating the core, the baseline, the root, the tradition?  Those could be loaded questions, indeed, but they are the important ones when the goal is to preserve the original for future generations. Recent years have opened up the doors to artificial intelligence for almost everyone in the internet-empowered world. Recent months have been very active in innovating the Tatar traditional leather folk art of Kaiyly Kün. 

Change is a constant variable of life on Earth. It is a powerful mechanism for innovations as well as destruction. Who is in charge of change control – an important procedure that ensures that the quality and the core value are protected? Whether it is an artificially generated image of boots or a bag with the distinct stitch and ornamentation, or natural manual fabrication of leather item with only one element of the technology instead of three, it is becoming harder to detect the distortion of the original core of a complex Kaiyly Kün art. It is important to pinpoint a change that may erase the value and make it unavailable in future (like once-prominent bulgari leather)….It is also essential, without a doubt, to encourage and celebrate the progressive creatives, because art is fuelled by innovations.

Here are some impressively creative innovative interpretations of centuries-old Kaiyly Kün technology. Here is one more loaded, maybe a rhetoric question, for you to ponder: Which item is complex and authentic enough to carry the core of an ancient art as well as is an excellent example of modern interpretation and innovative approach? 

In sync, we, here, have been diligently documenting, preserving and expanding the knowledge of unique art of Kaiyly Kün. For over 15 years, we have been offering this freely accessible platform with quality, human-synthesised and researched knowledge of incredible manual Tatar heritage of complex leather mosaic. Our intrinsic motivation is clear: we want the unique leather art of the Tatars with its original integral three elements to be available for many generations to enjoy and celebrate!

Credits go to Naılya Kumysnikova, Lusi Brand, Dina Gatina-Shafikova, Aigel Salakh, Bekas, Ay.Bulgari, Sahtian, Kul Eşe, Mira Rahmat, Al Bai.

*We intentionally do not use Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools/models to generate images because our priority is a meaningful use of natural resources including electric power supply. Based on the type of the AI model, generating one image equals to either

• charging one smartphone 70-200 times (0.1-0.3 kWh in light models), or 
• brewing water in the coffee/tea pot 5-15 times (0.3-0.7 kWh for mid-range models), or 
• running a refrigerator for up to 1 hour (0.7-2.0 for advanced models).

The “saved up” energy (thanks to our intentional, meaningful approach) fuels the well-being of local marginalized communities (instead of the data centres). Those are the people who rely on their hands for living.