Tberfil research project - an update

I recently had the chance to resume work on a project that I've been working on intermittently over these past 3 years. A couple of years ago I had posted some information about the nature of the project which you can read here but just to recap, I'm currently documenting a local Maltese style of vehicle decoration and sign writing called 'tberfil'. I've been doing this by speaking to most of it's practitioners, visiting people with collections of vintage horse-drawn or automated vehicles and researching texts in libraries. 


 

Over these past 3 years I have managed to interview most of tberfil's practioners and this time round I also had the opportunity of speaking to Malta's last two remaining cart (karrettun tax-xoghol) builders - which though not practitioners of 'tberfil' are still a vital source of information since tberfil would have never existed without carts. My main aims are to document this art form and in time help revitalise it but I am also very interested in it's origins, and this is something that I put a special emphasis on this summer, with promising results!

In short, research so far points to origins (of one style) related to early incarnations of the Imnarja - a seminal Maltese rural feast that goes back at least 500 years. This is exciting especially when one considers how vital the Imnarja feast was in shaping Malta's identity in so many ways (it was the major gathering of rural dwellers, farmers and their culture, was one of the few occasions when rulers and lower classes mingled, it gave us our beloved rabbit dishes etc.). As luck would have it, a chance visit to the Imnarja feast itself four years ago (where spotted two beautifully decorated carts) was what inspired me to research this local brand of folk-art.

I will be continuing my research on the subject throughout the next few months both here in London and in Malta and have plans to conclude it by early next year. I also have some other plans related to this research which I'll hopefully get to write about sometime next year. 

Dust, sweat and a mind full of ideas..

It-tberfil Malti

The art or craft of tberfil is a Maltese style of lettering/signwriting and decoration usually associated with Malta's recently scrapped old buses. It is also practiced on other methods of transport - construction trucks, old stone quarry and farmer's carts (karrettun), horse-drawn cabins (karozzin) and horse-racing carriages (karru tat-tlielaq). The term tberfil actually refers to anything which implies some form of decoration in Maltese arts and crafts such as intricate patterns in bizzilla (lace craft) and the baroque line work of pavaljuni and bandalori (village feast banners), but is certainly more commonly associated with vehicular decoration than anything else.

Tberfil lettering showing the variety of styles used on a typical old Maltese bus.

Thanks to the bus system, tberfil was until recently one of Malta's most visible traditional arts with bus drivers personally making sure that their bus was fully and freshly decorated with tberfil's swirling flourishes and rich lettering styles. One could easily see tberfil on display in all its varieties at the Valletta bus terminus. Sadly, the recent overhaul of the bus system means that the art of tberfil has just become much less visible in Maltese streets and has been practically relegated to being seen on construction trucks and some other random personalized vans (even though karozzini and horse-racing carriages sport tberfil, the style of decoration used is much more minimal and rarely ever feature the quirky lettering and flourishes found on buses. They are also much less visible on the streets).

In light of these unfortunate developments, I recently embarked on some research into this craft. I've had this project in mind ever since I read that the bus system will be scrapped and replaced a couple of years ago but months away from the island and quick visits meant that I never really found the time to actually do anything up until now. Finally doing some research turned out to be really fun and informative. Signwriting has always been a major interest of mine and actually learning about this lovely, homegrown style was something which was long due. The research involved speaking to a few master practitioners of tberfil (some retired and some still active), observing decorating processes and trying to get some facts about the craft's history before it disappears altogether. I plan to do some additional investigating and later use this material for a graphic/anthropological project in the coming months. 

Below are some photos from the sessions thanks to Sara de la Mora.