Goldsmiths of the Grand Bazaar: An Oral History of Business Traditions and Growth Mechanisms

Although the overall gold business and the goldsmithery in particular have a long-standing historythat can be traced back to ancient times, surprisingly not much interest has been shown in theindustry itself in terms of academic research. Apparently the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, a wellestablished complex that serves as a center for goldsmiths and stands as an early prototype of the contemporary shopping malls, remains a valuable source for research on business traditions and growth mechanisms. In this vein, the oral history study presented in this paper aims to provide an essential means in order to determine whether a change in the business traditions of the GrandBazaar goldsmiths from past to present has emerged as well as to reveal their growth or “ungrowth” mechanisms and to shed light on variations based on ethnicities and generations.