Many of the city’s most famous structures, such as the American Colony Hotel and the Rockefeller Museum, are decorated with tiles

The Armenian ceramic craft industry in Jerusalem is credited to David Ohannessian (1884–1953), who founded the pottery in Kütahya in 1907. To install Kütahya tiles in Mark Sykes’ Yorkshire home, Ohannessian was hired in 1911. Ohannessian and his family escaped the Armenian genocide in 1919 and temporarily took up residence in Aleppo. When Sykes suggested that they might be able to duplicate the damaged and missing tiles on the Dome of the Rock, a structure that was then deteriorating and uncared for, they relocated to Jerusalem. The Karakashian painters and Balian potters that Ohannessian brought with him from Kuttahya to assist him with the project in 1919 also succeeded, even though the commission for the Dome of the Rock fell through. About 60 years later, new Armenian artists started opening up studios

Tourists prefer cheaper, mass-produced imitations of Armenian pottery made in China and Arab cities, which undercut the finely crafted, traditional pottery. Similar in style to Palestinian Arab ceramics is the Hebron pottery

The Balian factory is one of the oldest continuously operating businesses in Jerusalem but the family now export most of their work to the United States. Blue and white tiles made in Jerusalem are a common sight along the waterlines of opulent Californian swimming pools