Ak-Taş Meerschaum

Ak-Taş Meerschaum is a meerschaum pipe workshop operating at the Atlıhan Handicrafts Bazaar in Eskişehir's Odunpazarı district. Written mostly as "Aktas" in foreign catalogues, the workshop is today run by Besim Aktaş; the family business is also known in Türkiye as Aktaş Taşçılık. The workshop is known for producing figural heads carved with faces alongside plain classic forms.

The Family's Account

In the family's own telling, the chain begins with two great-grandfathers, Abdülrezzak Efendi and Avni Efendi, dated back to the 1850s. The craft is said to have passed down through Neşet Aktaş and Uğur Aktaş to today's master. The number of generations differs between sources: the brand's own promotional material speaks of the fifth generation, while an interview given to the Turkish press speaks of the sixth. All of these names and dates rest on family narrative and have not been confirmed by any independent archive or trade record. According to the same interview, Besim Aktaş learned his craft from a master named Hüseyin Soysal, and his daughter Habibe Aktaş has also entered the business through meerschaum jewelry design.

The Workshop's Work

Ak-Taş pipes are not made by pressing crushed stone dust but carved from a single block of meerschaum. Because meerschaum is easy to work but not impact-resistant, the point where the shank meets the mouthpiece is one of the areas the workshop treats with particular care: on most models a finely ornamented silver band is fitted at this joint, which both decorates and reinforces the stone. Mouthpieces use real amber alongside amber-look synthetic resin (art amber) and colored hard rubber (vulcanite). The shape repertoire splits into two branches: plain classic pipe forms on one side, and ornate models with bowls carved with faces and figures on the other. This second group continues the sculptural tradition Eskişehir carving has maintained since the nineteenth century, and pushes the workshop closer to artisan-made pipework than to series production.

A Note on Name Similarity

Another record carries the same surname: pipe-stamp directories list a separate Aktaş company, founded by Kemal Aktaş (died 2005) and, as of 2011, apparently under Abdurrezzak Aktaş, with an address given in the village of Beyazaltın in Eskişehir. Moreover, the word "aktaş" is also said to be used locally for workers who extract meerschaum. For this reason, the "Aktas" mark found on estate pipes does not by itself point to this particular workshop in Odunpazarı.

Atlıhan and the Eskişehir Context

Atlıhan, where the workshop is located, is according to records a caravanserai built in the 1850s for traders, travelers, and their animals to lodge. The structure fell into disrepair over time before being restored by the Odunpazarı Municipality and reopened as a handicrafts bazaar in the mid-2000s. The raw stone is extracted from mines around Eskişehir in villages such as Margı, Başören, Dereköy, Karatepe, and Türkmentokat, from shafts descending anywhere from ten to over a hundred meters. Eskişehir meerschaum carving is a shrinking craft today: masters interviewed by the press say the number of certified craftsmen falls short of forty, and that only some of those still work at the bench. Workshops such as Ak-Taş, which continue passing the craft down through generations, are counted among the carriers of the tradition within this decline.