Eye bead

eye beads

The eye bead is a kind of glass art originating in Anatolia. This art has changed very little for thousands of years. The 3,000 year-old antique Mediterranean glass art lives in these eye bead furnaces with its every detail.

The roots of the very few glass evil eye bead masters that still practice this tradition go back to the Arabian artisans who settled in Izmir and its towns during the decline of the Ottoman Empire by the end of the 19th century. The glass art that had lost its glamour in Anatolia, combined with the eye sign, was enlivened. The masters who practised their arts at Araphan and Kemeralti districts of Izmir were exiled due to the disturbance of the smoke from their furnace and risk of fire in the neighbourhood.