Tunis Village Festival, Vivid Manifestation of Egyptian Handcrafts

By Maydaa Abo El-Nadar

CAIRO, Nov. 6 (SEE) - Organized by AlexBank, Tunis Village in Fayoum, celebrated a festival from November 2 to 4. A festival is an annual event that gathers handcrafts' makers from all Egyptian cities.

Rawya Abdel Kader, the owner of a pottery shop at the village, gave a brief remark about the festival's history. "We –potters of the village- started this festival. When its echoes of success were heard, AlexBank became its official sponsor."

Visitors who attended the event enjoyed a vivid atmosphere.

Situated at the beginning of the exposition was the 'Al-Kalm' Association's partition where Islam Ramadan –a teacher at the association- was writing visitors' names in Arabic calligraphy for free.

Al-Kalm is an association that aims to spread Arabic calligraphy across Egypt. It also does ornamentation workshops and classes to improve normal Arabic handwriting.

With its location near Saladin Citadel, Mohamed Mosaad, one of the association's members, said: "The site perfectly matches the nature of our activities."

Numerous handicrafts who presented various arts took part in the event. They include "Bent El-Badia" or the "Desert's Daughter" project presenting Bedouin embroidery from North Sinai. Cooperative Production Association for Traditional Crafts participated to show Sohag's traditional art called "Al-T".

However, pottery making dominated the scene.

Shahin, a pottery maker, commented "This is my first time here. The festival is now the outlet to market my products," adding "We also organize workshops for those interested in learning pottery making."

The festival was also an opportunity for Abdallah Yusuf to market his pottery products.

Yusuf explained, "I live here in Tunis Village. My workshop is a bit far from this location, so the festival is a chance to introduce my work to the public."

Besides, Yusuf participates in around three annual exhibitions in France and exports to the USA.

Ahmed Ezz, an owner of a gallery at Tunis Village mentioned that it is believed that a Swiss woman called Evelyn introduced and taught the village's residents pottery. Afterward, a man came here and noticed that the village looks like Tunisia and this was the reason it is named Tunis Village.

Digging deeper, one could enjoy listening to the stories of female Egyptian artists.

Samar is the owner of 'AL Kharza Al-Zarka' Centre in the Egyptian city of Damietta. She started by making lanterns out of beads for Ramadan- the holy Islamic month- two years ago. As the project was continuing successfully, she started to teach girls in Damietta.

Last Ramadan she was marketing crafts woven by 80 girls. Currently, she is merging sewing, embroidery, crochet, and beads making.

"How can a woman stand alone selling handicrafts in the streets!" was one of the criticisms directed against her. Commenting on the situation she said, "People who were criticizing me are now proud of my achievements."

"I am now learning leather work to include it to our handcraft," Samar said when asked about her future goals, wishing that she could export her handcrafts abroad.

Regarding Aya's story, she graduated this year and currently working as a teacher at a nursery. She kept on saving part of her salary in favor of her project.

Aya's project "Nabtah" consists of planting at home, decorating plants pots, and selling it in different sizes.

"I believe girls are talented and these skills should be utilized," Aya noted, adding that she tried crochet but switched to plants as she enjoys dealing with souls rather than solid stuff.