Narrator: Bone carving can be traced back
to prehistoric times.
In India,
artisans have been turning buffalo bones into works of art
since at least the 16th century,
when royals would commission works like this in ivory.
But more recently,
a scarcity of materials and legal restraints
have pushed people away from the craft.
We visited Lucknow, India,
to see how one group of bone carvers is still standing.
Jalaluddin Akhtar stores bones out on the roof of his home.
He has enough stock to last him six months.
These were once widely available
when traders sold them out of giant warehouses.
But now, Jalaluddin has to get them from butchers instead.
Down in the workshop,
Jalaluddin cuts the bones into smaller pieces.
He learned the art from his uncle in 1980.
It's been in his family for over 50 years.
And in his lifetime, he's seen the industry change.
Narrator: Jalaluddin chops down the bone to make it straight.
Narrator: He sells any excess fragments for 13 cents a pound
to factories that grind them up and sell them as fertilizer.
Then he shaves down the bone pieces with an electric sander.
Narrator: Electricity is expensive
and sometimes unreliable in this part of India,
so not all bone carvers can afford to run tools like these.
The Akhtar family says that's part of the reason
many have left the craft.
These pieces will later be glued together
to form a lampshade.
But first, Jalaluddin needs to boil them with baking soda.
Narrator: They cook for three hours.
Narrator: He files down the edges so that they align
when he glues them together.
In the past, there were workers who specialized in this step,
but now, Jalaluddin has to do all the processes themselves.
Once the glue is dry,
he drills tiny holes to create a piece called the net.
He used to do this by hand,
but the drill press has made the process
much more efficient.
Narrator: Then he submerges the bones and hydrogen peroxide
to clean them.
Narrator: Normally the pieces lay out in the sun to whiten,
but when it's rainy, Jalaluddin uses a light bulb instead.
Narrator: He polishes each piece with this buffing machine ...
... and then puts all the parts together
to create the shape of a lamp.
Some designs call for different tools, like this one.
The artisans hand-make it themselves.
Narrator: Akheel is one of Jalaluddin's three sons.
He's hand-carving holes with the help of a wooden anvil.
Narrator: The block keeps the piece in place while workers carve.
They used to fix the wooden blocks into the ground,
but over time,
they started using a stone to weigh down the block instead.
Narrator: Akheel learned the craft at 14 years old
and won a state award at 18.
But he wasn't always excited about the job.
Narrator: Now he sees potential in it.
Narrator: Akheel and his father
work with just one or two other artisans
who have different expertises.
Salahuddin Beg's specialty is engraving.
Narrator: Many bone-carving designs resemble architecture
from the Mughal empire.
18th-century buildings still stand
from when the Muslim dynasty ruled India.
Back then, royals commissioned artisans to carve ivory
to their liking.
But when the ivory trade was banned in the 1990s,
carving bones from camels or buffaloes became a legal
and cheaper alternative.
The Akhtar family says their business peaked
during the early 2000s with support from the government.
Jalaluddin won a national award in 2012.
And a couple years later,
the government sent him to Brazil to show off his work.
Narrator: But soon after, the Akhtars said,
with a new administration, funding shrunk.
And business hasn't been the same ever since.
Narrator: Then, in 2017,
the government put restrictions on slaughterhouses
and forced many of them to shut their doors,
cutting off artists' bone supply.
Narrator: The raw materials became too expensive
for such a small market.
Some artisans went abroad for better work,
and others didn't pass on the craft within their families.
Narrator: Today, the Akhtar family teaches workshops
to people in the community.
It's part of the government's initiative to save the art.
It pays for the students to attend the classes
and for the Akhtars to teach them.
Narrator: And while the pandemic has slowed down classes
and regular business,
it's also given the Akhtars time to develop new designs,
like this lamp.
It sells for around 12,000 Indian rupees, or $200.
They export most of their products to foreign customers.
This is one of their most rare and expensive pieces.
It's a perfume holder made from camel bone.
They crafted it 30 years ago
and just recently sold it for $1,200 to an art collector.
Narrator: Akheel is hoping to start selling their work
through social media.
Narrator: And the Akhtars don't plan on stopping anytime soon.