WATCH: The Cape’s last fez maker closes shop
Cape Town’s last fez maker is packing away his needles and scissors after 25 years, but is deeply concerned about who will carry the noble tradition forward.
“Today is my last day working on fezzes. I just don’t have the strength anymore. But, who will take over from me?” he asks.
Gosain Samsodien, 76, has been lovingly making koefieyahs for the past 25 years from his home-factory in Kensington.
“I was first in the building trade in Johannesburg for about 30 years before coming to Cape Town to make fezzes – a trade I learnt from my late brother Rashaad, who was a master fez maker in Johannesburg,” Samsodien told the Cape Argus.
“He encouraged me to get into the fez trade because at that time there was no one in Cape Town making them anymore.
“That is how I started.”
He is one of only a handful of artisans worldwide keeping this 600-year-old tradition alive.
Artisanal trades like fez-making are increasingly under threat because of modernisation and the tendency for cheaper mass produced products.
“My biggest worry is that traditional fez-making will die out.
“Nobody is interested, not even my children.
“Maybe one of my grandchildren, I hope, will continue the trade because Cape Town Muslims love their fezzes, especially the half ones which are shorter.
He has made thousands of them over the years and says: “The red ones are the most popular and are worn almost exclusively by the Malay choirs...”
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