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Everything Pakistani draws big crowds at the German Winter Market in Karachi

Everything Pakistani draws big crowds at the German Winter Market in Karachi

Handicrafts, leather items, and apparel were the biggest attractions.
04 Feb, 2025

The German Winter Market, organised by the German Consulate General, drew a large crowd in Karachi on Sunday. This also became the cause of massive traffic jams in the lanes around the venue. Still, no one seemed to have a problem with that as many left their vehicles to happily walk to the place.

Pakistani handicrafts, leather items, apparel, handmade imitation jewellery, decoration pieces, toys and food stalls may have been the biggest attractions at the market. There were also children’s activity areas for them to draw and colour, have their faces painted by an expert, play with fake snow or run around and bounce in the jumping castle.

Picture booths were passé; instead, there was a pedestal to get up on and get your 360-degree panoramic image taken with your phone. There was also a live performance by the Khudgarz Band.

Many apparel stalls didn’t have regular outlets as they were strictly export or online businesses. The Winter Market was a good opportunity to check out their merchandise. ‘GIA International’, the initials of which stand for Gulnoor Ismat Atika, had some nice fleece, jersey and denim items. They said that they had their office at Shahra-e-Faisal where one could visit their factory shop though they didn’t really cater to the local market.

At the ‘Womenza’ Pakistan stall, there was more than one entrepreneur displaying their items on separate tables. Kaneez Fatima of SK Attires had unstitched hand-embroidered suits and chadors from Sindh and Punjab. She also had white-on-white applique work shalwars from Punjab and some Indian embroidered shalwars, which she was selling for Rs3,500 each. A stack of pretty Dhaka saris was price tagged at Rs9,000 each.

There were stalls selling ceramic decoration pieces. One stall, called ‘Clay Biscuits’, was approached by some customers thinking that they were selling biscuits only to learn that the raw form of clay before being refined and glazed is termed ‘clay biscuits’.

At another stall called ‘LO-Loralai Olives’, you could buy high-quality extra virgin olive oil for cooking or drizzling on salads. The oil had been extracted from different types of olives such as Arbequina, Gemlik and Frantoio. It was explained by one of the co-founders of Lo-Loralai, Ayeza Imran, that the oil is extracted from imported olives and the olive trees which they have in Pakistan, have also been imported from Italy.

At another stall called ‘Meraart’, one could buy cushion covers, table mats, bags, pouches, clutches, etc., done in truck art. Sobia Baqai and Mohammad Farooq, the designers, who also happened to be wife and husband, were very proud of each item that they were selling, especially the cross body bags, which they had made from a special type of shiny faux leather sheet, which they said was extremely durable as they had run all kinds of experiments on it.

From fake leather to real leather, there were bags, briefcases, boxes and other luggage items in two-tone shades at the ‘Kaachi’ stall. It was explained by Sharyar Qamar, the owner of Kaachi that the kind of shades and pigmentation one could notice on the items is only possible on cow leather done with wax.

The pioneers of truck art in Pakistan, ‘Phool Patti’ were there too. Ali Salman Anchan, the founder and creative director of Phool Patti explained that they are more into making customised items so even though they do put up a stall at the German Winter Market they never sold anything from there earlier. Well, that changed this time as they had several interesting items on sale.

Originally published in Dawn, February 4th, 2025

Comments

Taj Ahmad Feb 04, 2025 12:11pm
Simply great and beautiful event taking place in mega city Karachi. All credit goes to organizer as team work.
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ahmed Feb 04, 2025 02:44pm
Keep the community engaged,
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Taj Ahmad Feb 04, 2025 04:30pm
Simply great and beautiful, Karachi is always # 1 a great city of Pakistan.
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M.IMRAN SHEIKH Feb 05, 2025 03:17am
SWEET GERMANY
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M.IMRAN SHEIKH Feb 05, 2025 03:19am
WONDERFUL WONDERFUL EVENTS ❤️
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Maha Feb 05, 2025 12:47pm
When it was held we hv no news where it was announced
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Junaid Feb 05, 2025 02:25pm
Venue address ?
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محمد یونس کھوکھر Feb 05, 2025 10:02pm
جو پروگرام ہوتا ہے اس پروگرام کی پہلے پبلسٹی کرنی چاہیے تاکہ لوگ مناسب تعداد میں اس کو دیکھ سکیں پروگرام ہونے کے بعد خبر دینا ضروری تو نہیں ہے لیکن جو لوگ رہ جاتے ہیں اس پروگرام کو دیکھنے سے وہ ضرور افسوس کرتے ہیں
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Mahjabeen Gul Feb 05, 2025 10:22pm
Oh I missed it would like to know in the future when such events take place ...
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Zurain Imam Feb 06, 2025 09:47am
When your staff writer says that The pioneers of truck art in Pakistan, ‘Phool Patti’ were there too and mentions Ali Salman Anchan who began his endeavour in 2023 they forget to mention that a true pioneer of Truck Art Anj Rana of TRIBAL TRUCK ART who began her business 27 years ago was also at the German Winter Market
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Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad Feb 06, 2025 11:49am
Pak-German friendship; Zindabaad.
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