In this essay, I am going to discuss three examples of Traditional Maltese art and design, namely Ganutell, L-Ghonella and Tberfil.

Ganutell is the making of artistic artificial flowers. The Maltese word ganutell is derived from the Italian words cannotiglio/canutiglia which means a thin, hollow, spiral wire on which very fine silk thread was added to form flowers. This was imported to Malta as recently as the eighteen century from Europe probably by the nuns who used it to decorate the churches. However, the way this craft evolved makes it distinctly Maltese. Infact a search on the internet of the articles on Ganutell all mention Malta, even articles written abroad. Unfortunately this art had a turbulent history, infact it almost became inexistent by the middle of the twentieth century and only few people knew the techniques of this art really well at that time. Moreover there was hardly any documentation in this regard and even now very few books have been written on this subject, most of the teaching is done by word of mouth. As recently as the last thirty years, the Education division intervened and started evening courses including at MCAST and by now this art has again flourished considerably. The Malta Society of Arts also organise courses.

In his book ‘Xoghol u Snajja ta’ L-Imghoddi’, Guze Galea describes this art which required several specialties including the Constructors who would  make the design in the exact size required and also choose the colours used for the different components. The constructors would insert a stiff wire in the canatuglia so as to produce the shape required mainly the border of a petal. Then the composers would fill the empty space within the border by silk of different colours depending on the original design. The stamens, the centre and the carpals of the flower were made of beads and fancy wires. Finally the flowers, leaves and whatever else was included were tied together to form a bouquet (Galea, 1969).

There are many different uses for Ganutell mainly for decoration but also as hair accessories especially for weddings (tiaras, hair combs and head dresses) and even bridal bouquets. In churches, bouquets are placed on gilded wooden stands to decorate the altars. There is also the tradition of putting Ganutell work in glass domes especially one on each side of a gilded, domed clock but also surrounding the figure of the Baby Jesus. One can also find Ganutell in frames surrounding religious themes but also for wedding frames etc. They are enclosed in glass for protection especially to prevent the flowers from getting dirty but also for display purposes.

Two other types of crafts that can produce flowers are the French beaded flowers and Klosterbeiten but Ganutell is purely a Maltese art which has no counterpart anywhere in the world. French beaded flowers are made of small glass beads which are also stung on a wire but they are less dainty than Ganutell. In Germany flowers can also be made as well as many other objects using the very old craft of Klosterbeiten, having its own unique characteristics and using different materials like semiprecious stones, artificial pearls as well as straw, horsehair, beads and foil.

Figure 1: Home-made Ganutell (done by my grandmother)

Figure 2: Home-made Ganutell (done by my grandmother)

(Two photographs taken by me)

Figure 3: Klosterarbeiten Madonna

Figure 4: French beaded flowers

I must admit that I never appreciated this subject and hardly knew anything about it until I started researching it and found a person who showed me all the intricacies of this traditional Maltese art.

The Ghonnella or Faldetta is a black cotton or silk head dress, unique to the Maltese islands, and was used as a garment by Maltese women up to the 1930’s. It was generally black in colour but from the sixteenth century onwards, women of noble class used to wear white or brightly coloured Ghonnellien. Historians Ciantar and Abela state that the ghonnella has its origins from Sicily. The Ghonnella is subject to many legends but the most credible one, since it is recorded in the chronicles of Riccardo di San Germano, recounts that the ghonnella was introduced in Malta in the year 1224 by the women of Celano (Italy) who were extradited to Sicily and eventually to Malta. These women wore a garment similar to Ghonnella as a sign of mourning following the massacres of their husbands. The Ghonnella gained popularity throughout the Maltese islands and was worn by every adult female. Literature also suggests that there were many seamstresses who earned their living by designing and sewing ghonnielen. In some Maltese villages, specifically in Zabbar and Zejtun, women wore a variant of the traditional ghonnella, and such garment was known as a culqana. The culqana was typically blue in colour decorated with white polka dots or floral embroidery. In Gharghur the ghonnella was known as stamina. The Ghonnella design was quite peculiar as the upper part was formed by means of a board, a cane or whalebone and it was given a broad rounded frame so that it won’t cover the face of the person wearing it. This helped to capture cool breezes in the humid Maltese climate. The Second World War brought the end of the ghonnella’s popularity and up to the 1970’s was only worn by older female members of the lay society MUSEUM.                  

                                              Figure 5: Woman wearing Ghonnella / Faldetta

In my opinion, even though the Ghonella is no longer worn but it still holds a significance to our Maltese Heritage.

It-Tberfil is a typical Maltese art consisting of different styles of lettering, sign writing as well as decorations, all hand painted, usually associated with means of transportation, more specifically old Maltese buses, but also boats used by local fishermen, horse drawn cabins (karozzini) and construction trucks. The art of tberfil started to gain popularity after the Second World War when Maltese businessmen purchased old British Army Vehicles and transformed them in buses. Unfortunately this form of art is at risk of disappearing with the elimination of the old buses and the introduction of a new transport service (Malta’s colorful vintage buses bowed out on 23rd June 2011). Most bus drivers used to decorate their own buses with traditional Maltese characteristics which represented names of villages or sayings examples of which are “Forever Young” “Travel Magic” and “Get one Free”. The gold standard of Tberfil was on the buses with the rich styled lettering and the flourishing designs as compared with minimal decorations on the other types of transport.

Figure 6: Tberfil on a bus

These buses have similar features to the highly popular American buses of the 1950’s (shown below) which were influenced by Art Nouveau and Art Deco especially the touches of chrome but the designs and the typography found on the Maltese buses with the simple but elegantly curved lines that link up together to form decorations are traditional Maltese.

Figure 7: Old Maltese vintage bus

(Photo taken in Zejtun)

Figure 8: American fifties bus
(Jon’s Trail ways History Corner, N.D.)
                   (Art Nouveau)

Figure 9:  Art deco bus (Jon’s Trail                                       ways History Corner, N.D.)

The images below show traditional Maltese designs of tberfil which were also used to decorate Maltese boats.

Figure 10: Tberfil on Maltese boats (luzzu)

The pattern looks sort of an acanthus leaf

(Photo taken in Marsaxlokk)

Figure 11: Bright colours of Luzzu and simple pattern

(Photo taken in Marsaxlokk)

Although this art has less relevance and utility nowadays, it would be a shame if this art would disappear. Tberfil is an art that needs ability and a lot of precision work and this has to instigate us not to neglect this type of art.

It has been suggested that the Tberfil patterns were inspired by a combination of styles mainly attributed to a baroque style, Art deco and Art Nouveau as one can compare with the examples of the above mentioned styles.

1.)                                                               2.)                                        3.)

                              

              Figure 12:                                          Figure 13:                             Figure 14:

  1.) Baroque simple pattern              2.) Gold Art Deco patterns         3.) Art Nouveau patterns

(Baroque patterns vector, N.D.)               (Pinterest, 2014)              (Fabrics and Patterns, N.D.)

I chose these three examples because they are exclusively Maltese and I could not find any traditional art  of other countries which one can say are really closely related to them although I tried to compare them with similar art and designs of other countries.

References:

Beads and handworks. 2011. Ganutell – exclusive Maltese needlework. [Online].

Available from: http://www.beadsky.com/ganutell.php?ln=en

[Accessed 1 January 2016].

Diana. 2010. Ganutell Blossoms. [Online].

Available from: http://ganutell.blogspot.com.mt/

[Accessed 1 January 2016].

Foster, S. 2016. Bead and Wire Flowers. [Online].

Available from: http://beadandwireflowers.com/

[Accessed 2 January 2016].

Foster, S. 2016. Bead and Wire Flowers. [Online].

Available from: http://beadandwireflowers.com/french-beaded-flower-ganutell-so-whats-the-difference

[Accessed 2 January 2016].

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2006. Ghonella. [Online].

Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C4%A7onnella

[Accessed 11 January 2016].

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2009. Ganutell. [Online].

Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganutell

[Accessed 1 January 2016].

Ganutell – a beautiful Maltese handcraft. (No Date). Ganutell – History. [Online].

Available from: http://www.ganutell.com/history/history.htm

[Accessed 1 January 2016].

Maltese History and Heritage. (No Date).The Maltese Faldetta – Ghonella. [Online].

Available from: https://vassallohistory.wordpress.com/maltese-crafts/the-maltese-faldetta-l-ghonnella/

[Accessed 11 January 2016].

The meaning of L-Ghonella. (No Date). The Ghonnella or Faldetta (Traditional women’s head dress). [Online].

Available from: http://www.ghonnella.com/ghonnellahis.htm

[Accessed 11 January 2016].

TVM. 2015. L-arti tat-tberfil… is-sengha antika f’riskju li tghaddi fl-istorja. [Online].

Available from: http://www.tvm.com.mt/mt/news/l-arti-tat-tberfil-is-sengha-antika-friskju-li-tghaddi-fl-istorja/

[Accessed 10 January 2016].

Venice6. 2015. Maltese Traditional Typography. [Online].

Available from: https://venicecastro1992.wordpress.com/author/venice6/

[Accessed 10 January 2016].

References for Images:

Fulla Spring. 2013. French Beaded Flower. [image online].

Available from: http://www.fullaspring.com/item_images_big/Purple_White_Lily_Red_Clover_6.jpg

[Accessed 1 January 2016].

Maltese Histoy and Heritage. (No Date). Women wearing Ghonnella / Faldetta [image online].

Available from: https://vassallohistory.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/image127.jpg

[Accessed 11 January 2016].

Menhennet, J. (No Date). Klosterarbeiten. [image online].

Available from: http://www.ganutell.com/klosterarbeiten/madonna.jpg

[Accessed 1 January 2016].

Pinterest. 2015. Art Nouveau patterns. [image online].

Available from:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/2c/19/11/2c19113ee71cb09475b65b12d86ec775.jpg

[Accessed 10 January 2016].

Pinterest. 2015. Gold Art Deco patterns. [image online].

Available from: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/02/7a/54/027a54fcb4e75523f266d3d4a45582ec.jpg

[Accessed 10 January 2016].

Venice6. 2015. Baroque simple pattern. [image online].

Available from: https://venicecastro1992.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/141.jpg?w=285

[Accessed 10 January 2016].

Venice6. 2015. Bright colours of Luzzu and simple pattern. [image online].

Available from: https://venicecastro1992.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/131.jpg?w=332&h=233

[Accessed 10 January 2016].

Venice6. 2015. Old Maltese vinatage bus [image online].

Available from: https://venicecastro1992.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/51.jpg?w=380&h=374

[Accessed 10 January 2016].

Venice6. 2015. Tberfil on a bus. [image online].

Available from: https://venicecastro1992.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/21.jpg?w=344&h=234

[Accessed 10 January 2016].

Venice6. 2015. Tberfil on Maltese boats (luzzu). [image online].

Available from: https://venicecastro1992.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/121.jpg?w=400&h=271

[Accessed 10 January 2016].

Venice6. 2015. Art deco bus. [image online].

Available from: https://venicecastro1992.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/61.jpg?w=381&h=294

[Accessed 10 January 2016].

Venice6. 2015. American fifties bus. [image online].

Available from: https://venicecastro1992.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/71.jpg?w=401&h=267

[Accessed 10 January 2016].