A decade of craft: Turquoise Mountain marks ten years with ISHKAR
To celebrate a transformative partnership between two champions of traditional artisanship, a panel of leading voices gathers to discuss the future of handmade heritage and the communities that sustain it.
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In the landscape of contemporary craft, certain partnerships transcend commerce to become something far more meaningful: a shared commitment to preserving the intricate knowledge that passes through generations, hand to hand, loom to loom. Turquoise Mountain and ISHKAR have spent the past decade building precisely such a relationship, their collaboration rooted in a deep reverence for the artisans of Afghanistan and the extraordinary handmade objects that emerge from their workshops.
This November, as ISHKAR reaches its tenth birthday, both organisations gather to reflect not merely on a milestone, but on something more profound: the future of traditional skills in an era when such knowledge risks fading into obscurity. The conversation brings together voices of genuine authority: Edmund Le Brun, ISHKAR’s co founder; Lulu Lytle, whose design philosophy has long championed the handmade and the artisanal; and Toby Ash, Commercial Director at Turquoise Mountain, whose work sits at the heart of supporting the artisans who create these pieces.
The discussion will unfold across territory that matters deeply to anyone who cares about craft: how traditional techniques survive and flourish, how they bind communities together and create economic resilience, and what possibilities lie ahead for the skilled makers of Afghanistan. These are not theoretical questions. They speak to the very real stakes of cultural preservation and to the dignity of livelihoods built on mastery and artistry.
Moderated by Serena Fok Schaner, the panel will explore the mechanisms by which heritage survives, the role that organisations like Turquoise Mountain and ISHKAR play in that survival, and the responsibility that falls to designers, makers and patrons alike. It is a conversation urgently needed, a moment to pause and ask not only where we have come from, but where we are headed.
The event takes place on the evening of 6 November at Ladbroke Hall in London, offering an intimate setting for this discussion of craft, culture and continuity. For those who understand that true luxury lies not in novelty but in the timeless beauty of the handmade, and in the stories of the hands that make them, this gathering promises something rare: thoughtful discourse on what endures.
Imagery courtesy of Turquoise Mountain (@turquoisemountain).