Goldsmiths of the Grand Bazaar: An Oral History of Business Traditions and Growth Mechanisms

Abstract

Although the overall gold business and the goldsmithery in particular have a long-standing history that can be traced back to ancient times, surprisingly not much interest has been shown in the industry itself in terms of academic research. Apparently the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, a well-established complex that serves as a center for goldsmiths and stands as an early prototype of the contemporary shopping malls, remains a valuable source for research on business traditions and growth mechanisms. In this vein, the oral history study presented in this paper aims to provide an essential means in order to determine whether a change in the business traditions of the Grand Bazaar goldsmiths from past to present has emerged as well as to reveal their growth or ungrowth mechanisms and to shed light on variations based on ethnicities and generations.