The second edition of Masters of the Craft Series shade a spotlight on one of Egypt’s most vibrant forms of rural embroidery. This series, Masters of the Craft, is a collaborative effort with Fair-Trade Egypt, aimed at showcasing the skilled artisans behind various traditional crafts.
Within the modest premises of their NGO, three generations of women from the village of Metemdia in Giza come together around one table, dedicating their days to filling intricate designs with an array of colorful stitches.
For the past three decades, these skilled and talented hands have been capturing the lively scenes of Egyptian rural life through their embroidery. This rural embroidery art form involves using vibrant stitches to depict various aspects of rural Egyptian life, including fishing, bread baking, and more. These detailed scenes are often showcased on textile tableaus, tote bags, cushions, and tablecloths.
The Women of Metemdia NGO was established in the 1990s with the mission of preserving and passing down the tradition of rural embroidery, which is considered an integral part of Egypt’s intangible cultural heritage. Through their efforts, this unique art form has been successfully transmitted from one generation to the next.
Needlework, hand weaving, and textiles have a rich history in ancient Egypt, with certain regions gaining recognition for their distinct styles. Examples include the Akhmim needlework of Sohag governorate, Talli in Assiut, Shandawil, and the textiles of Neqada.
Recognizing the significance of Egypt’s manual-textile industry in Upper Egypt, specifically in Qena, Aswan, and Sohag, UNESCO added it to their list of intangible cultural heritage sites in need of urgent preservation in 2020.
