Kashmir is well-known for its handicrafts, which include finer elements of design and craft like embroidery, pashmina weaving, carpet weaving and intricate wood carving—but 23 year-old Aziz-ul-Rehman from Gulab Bagh area of Srinagar has mastered the art of making various decorative items by carving animal bones.

Aziz, who is studying in the Department of Fisheries, was inspired by videos of such arts on social media and during COVID lockdown, he regularly painted different types of images on the bones to turn them into works of art. He has slowly mastered the art of bone carving. Working with scrap bones and wood and creating unique items has become his passion. He makes different things from the bones of animals—like jewelry, keychains, knives, decorative items etc

Bone carving is creating art, tools, and other goods by carving animal bones, antlers, and horns. It can result in the ornamentation of a bone by engraving, painting or another technique, or the creation of a distinct formed object. Bone carving has been practiced by a variety of world cultures, sometimes as a cheaper, and recently a legal, substitute for ivory carving. As a material it is inferior to ivory in terms of hardness, and so the fine detail that is possible, and lacks the “lustrous” surface of ivory. The interior of bones are softer and even less capable of a fine finish. In July 2021, scientists reported the discovery of a bone carving, one of the world’s oldest works of art, made by Neanderthals about 51,000 years ago.

It is a delicate art as the bones are very brittle and can easily break. According to Aziz, acquiring tools and equipment for this art form is a one-time investment which doesn’t need to be updated regularly. He usually collects bones from butcher shops that give them to him for free. He does admit that the entire process of collecting bones and then turning them into art pieces is a lengthy process and takes time. He claims that he is the first Kashmiri youth to take up this art form. Although he hasn’t got much of a local market, his work has become very popular across social media sites, from where he’s had some good sales.