Keeping the family heritage alive

27 October 2008

Ap Loday could be one of the few craftsmen who faithfully keep their trade going. Eshori Gurung reports.

Every morning, 60-year-old Ap Loday Gyeltshen wakes up, wears his spectacles and climbs the steep ladder to a small adjoining room – the room he has been working in for the past two decades.

The red bricks at the hearth have blackened as a result of burning and the small windows have collected soot over the years. But for AP Loday, it is the place around which he makes his livelihood. He lights the fire and gets his little tools ready for the daily activity. He is a goldsmith.

Ap Loday was born and brought up in Tsiphu, Paro, but he has lived in Taba for the past 20 years. He is a man with multi responsibilities. Apart from being a father, a son, a driver, and a husband, he is also the owner of a building and a goldsmith.

During the reign of the third Druk Gyalpo, he and his father worked as the royal goldsmiths and lived near the Dechencholing Palace. But when he got married at the age of 25 to a 13-year-old girl, he felt that his earning of Nu 600 per month was not sufficient to feed his family. So he resigned in 1985 and took up the job that would be part of him for the rest of his life.

Being keen, he learnt the art of metal carving from his father at the age of 13. Today, he is a very fine goldsmith whose art is well known and appreciated by the people all over the country. “Many people from all over the country ask me to make one thing or the other,” he said, adding that he did not make things for sale.

He makes items like, koma, jabtha, dung, bumpa, jaling, scabbards and cups. He has made scabbards for well known personalities like Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba, Lyonpo Thinley Gyamtsho and many other high government officials.

“The most demanded and easy-to-make is pesar koma with chains in the middle,” Ap Loday said. “But the making of Zongbu Jamji, a kind of pot with intricate engravings, takes almost a year to complete. It costs more than Nu 100,000 in the market today.”

Comparing to his meagre pay then, he now earns enough to feed his five daughters and two sons. For every pair of koma, he earns Nu 7,000 if the koma is made of pure silver, the gold plaited ones fetch him Nu 10,000. When he does not get any orders from the people, he drives a taxi but most of the time, he is busy with the gold and silver work.

His skills are, however, not passed on to his sons because, while some of them are already settled and have no interest in the trade, others are still students who cannot afford to digress their attention from the books. But his cousins are well-equipped with the knowledge of gold and silver designing.

Ap Loday says his art should not die with him. “This is our culture that distinguishes us from the rest of the world. So far, there hasn’t been imitation of our designs but the day is not far when our arts will be threatened,” he said.

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