Still making it the same way

The copper is hammered cold. It takes longer, the craftsman explains, but the metal remembers its shape better. He shows us a tumbler he made twelve years ago. It still holds.

The workshop is a single room with a dirt floor. Tools hang from nails in the beams. The craftsman works alone. His father worked here before him, and his grandfather before that.

The tumblers develop a patina with use. Water kept in them stays cool longer than in glass or ceramic. This is the reason people have used copper for water vessels for thousands of years. It is not a trend.