A living tradition

By Jill Kamil

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WITH few exceptions, weaving methods are the same all over Egypt today. The weaver at Kerdassa sits at a loom which has changed little since Pharaonic times. Indeed, a weaver's studio from the late 18th century (as depicted in Description de l'Egypte ) shows weavers playing their looms with the same fervour and patience.

The embroiders of Akhmim often adopted a motif of enclosing figures in a circle like old Coptic tapestries, using an overlapping backstitch to resemble the relief effects of old Coptic tapestries, while young weavers of Harraniya, inspired by nature, produced a tapestry of birds which combines skill with inventiveness. The latter, the Harraniya tapestries, are now famous worldwide. They emerged from an experiment directed by the architect Ramses Wissa Wassef which demonstrates technical skill combined with naive freshness and vigorous inventiveness.

Today weavers are active, to a greater or lesser degree, in cities and villages throughout Egypt, and one can even find a solitary weaver who adheres to his own regional style of production.

Crafts of Egypt by Denise Ammoun, published by the American University in Cairo Press, provides a compendium of information about the diverse crafts of Egypt which include weaving and embroidery, basketry, pottery, leather work, metalwork and woodwork.