Boxes of hand-blown glass Christmas ornaments sit, ready for the festive season, at a workshop in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, where employees are among the last in Europe still making the ornaments without the use of moulds. The social enterprise, run by the city, employs 27 people with physical or mental disabilities and also has ceramics and sewing facilities. There is this trend we're seeing over the last years of increasing mass production of plastic ornaments in China," says Ivan Stanev, one of those crafting glass animals and bells. "There are very few craftsmen left," adds the 66-year-old, who also has a disability.
AFP VIDEO