Fingers That Shape Clay: Craftsman Abu Laban Marks 50 Years of Creativity

Amid the halls of Saudi International Handicrafts Week (Banan), where crafts from 40 countries intersect, a small pavilion draws visitors with the soft strains of familiar Yanbu melodies drifting through the space. Behind the workshop table sits Youssuf Abu Laban, his calm smile reflecting a lifetime of patience and devotion. His hands move with practiced ease, knowing the clay as instinctively as a heartbeat.

 Abu Laban inherited the craft from his grandfather, learning as a child in a modest workshop in Madinah. He remembers standing quietly in a corner, watching lumps of clay take shape in his grandfather’s hands, how each vessel emerged as a story of its own. From those early days, he never left the world of pottery.Today, after more than fifty years of continuous work, he has created thousands of pieces, each carrying a memory etched into its fine details.

 Despite the presence of international participants and diverse global displays, the scene around Abu Laban remains one of the most authentic reflections of heritage, exactly as the Heritage Commission envisioned for the event. It is heritage not only displayed but practiced in front of visitors, presented with sincerity and simplicity, and carried into the future by children who leave the pavilion holding the first pottery piece they ever shaped.