Teyar Mirzeyev

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Teyar Mirzeyev by Norwegian Microcredit LLC (Normicro) in Azerbaijan. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 12 - 16 months, Norwegian Microcredit LLC (Normicro) will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Teyar works out of a brick workshop situated in the back of the Agsu bazaar. He is a seventh-generation metal worker who primarily repairs or refurbishes metal items. He used his Kiva-funded loan to purchase better quality and more suitable metals, such as highly pliable tin.

Teyar was repairing the radiator of a car when I walked up to his shop. He explained that in the past his profession was a highly-developed national craft, concerned mainly with creating new, skillfully decorated metal tools and pots. These days he spends the bulk of his time repairing modern metal objects and creating utilitarian cooking pots. However, Teyar has taken the initiative to counteract this industry trend by buying up and restoring old metalwork, such as jujums (shoulder-slung water-carrying vases), samovars (tea-brewing jugs common at outdoor tea houses), and ceremonial aftafas (jugs with slender spouts used at funeral wakes).

Teyar and his two brothers were trained in this trade by their father, who happened to stop by to see Teyar while I was there. Each of the brothers now owns his own metal shop. Under his father approving gaze, Teyar demonstrated for me how he would repair a pitcher using a manual blowtorch to heat his welding tool. Careful application of the pointed welding tool is necessary to preserve the decorative integrity of the water jug.

A look around Teyar’s workshop reveals the juxtaposition of the contemporary and traditional aspects of his work. In addition to a vise and motor-powered grinder, he has an anvil, a blowtorch, and an old-fashioned blower. This blower (I don’t know the proper word for this tool!) is the accordion-style device that allows the worker to manually squeeze air into a fire to stoke to flames. Teyar’s father told me that Teyar’s blower is probably two hundred years old! He traced the ownership back through Teyar’s great-grandfather to a friend’s grandfather.

Teyar is a resourceful, young metalworker who is putting his micro loan to good use.

Photo: Teyar demonstrates his restorative welding technique on a traditional water pitcher.