Best Tatar souvenirs: from soft ochpochmaks to ‘cubes of Minnikhanov’
The first open contest for the best tourist souvenir was designed to support Tatarstan manufacturers of souvenirs. However, as it turned out, not in all nominations there is someone to support. The timing of application submission has been postponed for the fourth time, and one of the reasons for this is the lack of applications in certain categories. Another problem is an impossibility of Tatar souvenirs to reach the Russian platforms. However, according to experts, there is no need anymore to defend Tatarstan manufacturers from competition with the Chinese ones.
It was too late when participants decided to participate
The 20 October was to be the final date for application submission for the Tatarstan contest for the best souvenir. It was announced by the Folk Artistic Crafts Development Center of Tatarstan. However, according to the participants of the contest, the final date has been extended to November 15. In particular, it is Aleksander Rachuk, director of Kazansky Arbat PLC, who told Realnoe Vremya about the postponement, — he has submitted to the contest several works.
As it turned out, this is not the first postponement. Initially, the stage of applications submission was to be held from 15 August to 1 September. Then the end of the period was changed to 30 September and later to October 20. The participants say that the problem is in the number of participants, which initially was small. The thing is that some nominations already have a large number of applications, for example, 'An ethnographic souvenir'. But, for example, the category 'A gastronomy souvenir (beverages)' has only two. It was too late when many producers decided to participate.
The Folk Artistic Crafts Development Center of the Republic of Tatarstan state budget institution confirmed that a term of the contest has been changed due to large number of applications that poured in the last days.
- An ochpochmak
- An ochpochmak-whicstle
- A box with 'President' cubes
- The candies 'Symbols of Kazan and the island-town of Sviyazhsk'
- The ginger biscuits 'Pumpjacks'
- Chak-chak 'Favourite investor'
- A gift case
- A package for icons
- A wooden package
- A peasant-woman with a sheaf
- A telega
- A Pirate chest
- Musa Dzhalil
Presidents, ochpochmaks, pumpjacks and a lot of Tatar ornament
Already now there is a good collection of interesting, unusual, and sometimes funny gifts at the contest.
In the nomination 'A museum souvenir' you can find a box with cubes 'The President'. Judging by the picture on the website, the master using the technique of decoupage puts on the surface of a cube various photos of Rustam Minnikhanov — a laughing President in the company of Ramzan Kadyrov, a concentrated President in the hockey form, a reflecting President in the glasses at the meeting or just a portrait of the President with the inscription 'A talented person is talented in everything'. You can also find an arrow in the box, the Khan's hat for 10 thousand rubles.
Amusing products can be found in the category 'A toy souvenir'. Here the masters offer a soft ochpochmak (a Bashkirs and Tatar national dish — triangular pastry, filled with minced beef, onion and potatoes — editor's note) and an ochpochmak-whistle, a toy-antistress in the form of Tatar pastry for 300 rubles, a lot of homemade dolls and a toy of cat-babay.
Among the gastronomic souvenirs there are a lot of chak-chak (a Tatar sweet made from unleavened dough cut and rolled into hazelnut-sized balls, which are then deep-fried in oil — editor's note), but some products are different from othes, for example, the chak-chak 'To favourite investor' from a master Svetlana Lapteva from Almetyevsk. She also presented an Almetyevsk souvenir — cookies 'Pumjacks'. But among beverages, perhaps, we can only highlight unknown lemonade 'Zabava' (Fun).
In one of the largest categories 'An ethnographic souvenir' in addition to the Tatar kalfak (the Tatar women's headwear – editor's note) and Mari headwear you can find unusual souvenirs, for example, 'rope' dolls by Svetlana Gatina or Musa Jalil with eyes wide opened by Svetlana Mustafina. In the same category there is a 'transport' by Mikhail Atlasov — the sledges.
The packaging manufacturers have also pleased us, they presented carved boxes for talkysh kaleve (a sweet — editor's note) and icons, a pirate chest, wooden package and even a case with Tatar ornament.
There are seven nominations: 'An ethnographic souvenir', 'A gastronomic souvenir (beverages)', 'A gastronomic souvenir (food)', 'A souvenir of the city and tourist route', 'A museum souvenir', 'A toy souvenir', 'Packaging products'. There will be only first places. Each finalist will receive a prize of 50 thousand rubles and the right to print on their products the winner of the competition.
How the Tatar souvenirs failed the exam for 'Russianness'
One of the reasons of the contest is that Tatarstan souvenirs do not win in the Russian contests. Nury Mustafayev says that it is difficult for ethnic souvenirs to enter the Russian market. Not the last role in this is played by the already established and well-known brands — Khokhloma, Gzhel. Besides, recalling the contest 'The Best Souvenir in Russia', the interlocutor of the newspaper confirms that the important selection criterion is a 'Russianness' of a souvenir. It is difficult for Tatarstan in the Russian market of souvenir production with the already established national Russian souvenirs.
However, they have managed to solve the 'Chinese' problem in the gift market, according to the experts. The chairperson of the committee on souvenirs and goods of folk art crafts at the Trade and Industry Chamber of RT Artur Mustaev said that it was possible to change the situation on the market thanks to the government. About from2010 through the Tatarstan Investment Development Agency and the Ministry of Culture the grants are provided for the purchase of equipment for local producers. The grants amount to about 300 thousand rubles. Over time, the amount of the grants declined and now it is allocated for to the entire industry about 3.6 million rubles a year.
Besides, in recent years there have appeared the trading platforms that allowed to sell their products directly. For example, in the shops on the territory of the complex Tugan Avylym, at the fair in the Kremlin there are no Chinese products at all. Chinese souvenirs have also disappeared on the Bauman street. Due to the growth rate and the development of manufacturing of souvenir production in Russia the companies began to look for Russian suppliers. Among the shops that still sell the Chinese products, the representative of the Trade and Industry Chamber called Bakhetle retail chain and stalls at the railway station.
Mustafayev said that now 80% of manufacturers of national souvenirs — Tatarstan and Russia. On the shelves, you can only find Chinese beads, tubeteikas (tubeteika — a Central Asian cap, today worn in Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, as well as in Muslim-populated regions of Russia — editor's note), shamails (the peculiar phenomenon of Muslim culture, an important part of religious and aesthetic consciousness, a form of art — editor's note). Mustaev adds that this category also still includes magnets.
'Privatisation' of national symbols
The experts also say about another problem for manufacturers of Kazan souvenirs: the practice of registration of the trademark of an attraction or symbol of Kazan. We will remind, a high-profile story occurred in 2009 when the Museum complex Kazan Kremlin became the rightholder of the object images of the Kazan fortress. The market reacted to the ban on the use of images without copyright permission simply – the souvenirs with the Kremlin just disappeared from the shelves of the shops. This fact took not the last place in deciding on free use. Numerous discussions with the involvement of Nuri Mustafayev led to the fact that all producers were allowed to use images of the Kazan Kremlin.
'We came to the conclusion that thus we advertise the Kazan Kremlin, depicting it directly on their souvenirs. We are promoting this idea outside of Kazan, Tatarstan and Russia as a whole. Therefore, the rights holder has no claims, if the Kazan Kremlin or its architectural elements of the monument will be depicted correctly and accurately,' said director general of the Folk Artistic Crafts Development Center of RT.
Another high-profile event was the division of the trademark 'Kazan cat'. It was registered in several categories in 2009 by Sergey Vdovin, but after that he demanded from the producers neither fees to be paid for it nor permission. The Director General of Kazan Souvenir PLC and the owner of the shop 'Kazan cat' Natalia Kharchenko also decided to register this trademark in 2009. The terms of its use were the purchase of a manufacturer certificate at a reasonable price and their sale was allowed only in the stores of Kazan souvenir PLC. The result was numerous lawsuits for compensation to other producers and all sorts of tricks to avoid lawsuits from those, who decided to use the 'privatized' 'Kazan cat'.
The interlocutor of the edition told that in connection with these lawsuits 'Kazan cats' virtually disappeared from the market. Vdovin says that he will not sell products with the cat until the end of the trial with the UFAS.