leather art | Unique Leather Mosaic of the Tatars

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. 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. It is a powerful mechanism for innovations as well as destruction…especially in the times of upheaval…Is the natural or the artificial in charge of change control – a crucial procedure that ensures the protection of quality and core value? Whether it is an artificially generated image of boots/ bags 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?

Kul Eşe’s multi-talented founder Mira Rahmat’s cool efforts in embellishing the public spaces with interpretive art based on traditional folk crafts of the Tatars deserve high accolades.

Kul Eşe School is dedicated to promoting and preserving the knowledge and value of manual/ hand work (it is a literal translation of kul eshe / кул эше from Tatar language) of the Tatars.

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 and the whole world to enjoy and celebrate!

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

*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. Do you know that 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 in mid-range models),
or running a refrigerator for up to 1 hour (0.7-2.0 in advanced models)?

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

“What is primary: a line or a circle?” I asked. “The dot” she answered with no hesitation.

Fadhila Al Dhahouri of Global Center of Islamic Art, an impressive young visionary, made it very clear that the dot can undeniably evolve into both the line and the circle, and allow the infinite transformation into the beautiful, the harmonious, the inspiring. Fadhila and exceptionally talented Sandy Kurt empower the world for a “search for knowledge” through engagement of artistic potential within aesthetics of Islamic discourse. In which activation of creativity enables humanity and is connected with the higher power, Allah.

Specifically, the art of practical geometry is connecting individual’s humanity and internal energy through interplay of dots, lines, circles – visible or hidden. This unity is built on paramount importance of symmetry, balance, harmony, precision, order and the internal individual desire to seek for those. For centuries, guided by structure, spiritual energy and eternal potential of geometry, myriads of ornamental solutions have been mastered. They all offer deep engagement to the ones who create them and the ones who seek the learning.

With knowledge that “geometry enlightens the intellect and sets one’s mind right” (Ibn Khaldun’s (1332-1406), we have been exploring the role of Islamic aesthetics and practical geometry in the ancient leather art of the (Volga) Tatars, the descendants of the Turkic nomads of EurAsia (Turkic Khaganates of 6-8th centuries) and the settled Volga Bulgars, whose indigenous lands are referred these days as Tatarstan Republic. Volga Bulgaria were the first northernmost civilization that in 922 officially accepted Islam under the mission of Ibn Fadlan, the envoy of Abbasid caliph al-Muqtadir. In 10-13^th centuries, Volga Bulgaria had manifested itself as a powerful center for Islamic education, science, art and lifestyle.

The Volga Bulgars’ Islamic knowledge, esthetics and material culture had been transmitted through immense trading channels of those times, so-called Volga Trade route and Silk Road. People of Volga Bulgaria have continued being a backbone of Muslim networks despite of complex and endless military, political, religious, authoritarian, colonizing processes. The descendants of the Volga Bulgars are now called the Tatars. Representing the largest and the most spread-out ethnic minority in ~17 mln. sq. km. territory of Rossiyan Federation, the modern Tatars have been slowly recovering their collective memory loss of their own impressive Islamic history. The leather art of the modern (Volga) Tatars serves as a vessel that has protected the core from turbulent realities, the vessel that carries a powerful blend of Tengri’s connection with nature and Allah’s empowerment of humanity.

Want to learn more about unique leather art of the Tatars, Kaiyly Kün, explore this website, and particularly the page “How is it unique?”
Curious about all the names the modern Tatars were called over centuries? Check out this page or this document.
Want to experience Islamic aesthetics through the practical applications, participate in Islamic Art Week (November 15-21, 2025) organised by Global Center of Islamic Art.
If you happen to be in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, during November 8, participate in local Islamic Festival organised by Muslim Artists of NC.
Start learning the basics of Islamic Geometry, Biomorphic Patterns and Calligraphy using the guides authored by Global Center of Islamic Art.
Curious about the efforts in reclaiming lost heritage of Islamic Art, read Fadhila Al Dhahouri’s article in Amaliah.
Want to explore Islamic Art “not through modern distinction between religion and culture, but as a self-referential interplay of interwoven discourses, rituals, beliefs moving across space and time”? Then reading Wendy M.K. Shaw’s “What is “Islamic” Art?: Between Religion and Perception” is a must! If the book is not accessible, please find here the Dr. Shaw’s key points of interpreting and accepting “Islamic” in term “Islamic Art” as a bigger platform than just a religious basis.

Two more worth sharing quotes:

from Quran (hand-written and translated by Fadhila) on obligation of seeking the knowledge by both Muslim man and woman. This motto is worth following by any, fidel or infidel. The modern reality is increasingly and intentionally complex, and the survival in it is possible only with developed critical thinking.

from ibn al-Haytham’s (965-1040) “The Optics” (snapshotted from Windy Shaw’s book) on never-ending complexities of the world. Ibn Al-Haytham’s statement compliments the Quranic wisdom and emphasizes the constant search for the truth using the senses.