Craft of ‘Making Haili Doors and Gypsum Carvings’ Attracts Visitors to Beit Hail Festival

The “Haili Wooden Doors and Gypsum Carvings” pavilion, part of the activities of the third edition of the Beit Hail Festival at Aja Park, attracted many visitors from the region and beyond. They observed the methods, techniques, and tools used in crafting and engraving these beautiful artworks, which added an authentic traditional touch to the festival.
Craftsman Abdullah Al-Khazzam, a native of Hail registered with the National Handicrafts Program (Bari), shared his beginnings in the clay building hobby that started in his childhood with a continuous passion and ambition to master the craft of making wooden doors and engravings, including the old Haili house door made from tamarisk and other types of wood. Al-Khazzam honed his talent in drawing and engraving on the Haili door and participated in various models, including the Najdi door, which consists of three beams, unlike the Haili door, which consists of four beams. These models received appreciation and admiration from festival visitors for the precise craftsmanship in the smallest structural details.
In his pavilion, Al-Khazzam also presented Islamic gypsum carvings inspired by the region’s environment, which are part of Najdi architecture to adorn buildings, entrances, and majlises. He also showcased traditional carvings for the historical majlises in Hail, symbolizing the owner’s social and economic status at that time, attracting many festival visitors to purchase some of these doors and decorate their current majlises with them as a heritage feature.
Al-Khazzam’s talent was not limited to making wooden doors but extended to various models such as the pulley known in the past as “Al-Suwani” and “Al-Shadad” placed on camel backs. He also participated in drawing and engravings that adorned old mud houses, some containing Quranic verses, wise sayings, and decorative engravings, while others took shapes from trees and plants.