Handcraft for Muslims and Christians

Language: 
English
Sent On: 
Sat, 2017-06-03
Year: 
2017
Newsletter Number: 
23

In the building opposite the Road 9 Metro market Mr. Mahmoud Farag’s family handcraft shop is accessible by a set of stairs.  You won’t know what to expect until you get inside and begin staring awestruck at the artwork covering his shop.          

 

Mr. Farag welcomed us warmly and was so passionate in telling us about his work and his life story. As a child he learned his craft from his father. He watched him work on Islamic designs and handmade crafts. With time Mr. Farag developed his own art, using linen to applique designs on fabric. He then opened his own shop in 1973, which would ultimately move to Maadi.

 

His son Khaled assists him and learnt the craft through the years by watching his father- just as Mr. Farag himself did with his own father. He transforms his artistic designs into exquisite wall hangings, pillows, bags, Christmas decorations- ​anything that can be made with fabric and linen.

 

Mr. Farag started drawing when he was around 14 years old.  He first worked on the calligraphy of Qu’ranic verses. Foreigners would buy his work without knowing the real meaning of the words written. Once he visited a client’s house and saw that people were sitting and walking on one of his creations which contained Qu’ranic verses. Obviously they didn’t know what was written!

 

After witnessing this, Mr. Farag began to ask his clients to bring him quotes to which they can relate. That’s how he started composing calligraphic artwork with verses from the Holy Bible. He wants his clients not only to buy an artwork they find beautiful, but also artwork in which his clients  would see their own soul.

 

Mr. Farag’s artwork takes time to make. A lot of time! He can spend months on one drawing depending on the level of details. Plus he has this inner feeling that if one small piece of the fabric has a default, he won’t sell it until it gets fixed:

 “Even if the client can’t see it, I see it and I can’t stand selling my work with any default, so I prefer to call my client and let him know I will take more time to be able to correct it or create a new one.”

 

I have been truly touched by Mr. Farag’s pure honesty. I strongly believe that he is so passionate about his work that whoever talks with him will feel it.

 

Unfortunately his work is frequently copied; competitors willing to make a profit from his unique art are trying to steal and copy his designs. I felt Mr. Farag and his son Khaled were really sad and preoccupied by this issue. But both of them have a unique talent; they know their art so well that whoever will copy them will never come close to their talent. They are so careful in their work, every detail is deeply thought, every material is chosen for a special reason. Behind every calligraphic letter, behind every character there are hours and hours of research. For example “the Sufi dancer has his right arm directed to the sky and his left hand to the ground for a special reason,” pointed out Khaled.

 

Mr. Farag and his son Khaled have a special relationship with every art piece they are creating. In piece of art they are putting a piece of their soul. That’s why their art is unique and inimitable.

 

I much  appreciated that Mr. Farag has made his work accessible to all budgets, varying  from 20 to 7 000 Egyptian pounds. Usually handcrafted artwork is quiet expensive but knowing that as a student I can afford a unique handcraft piece made me really very happy and eager to come back to do some shopping there.

 

Mr. Farag’s art shows us that even through art, there is a possibility to enhance good relations between Christians and Muslims; it is all about dialogue and understanding each other thoughts.

 

June 3, 2017

Dina Bouchkouch

 

 

 

Dina Bouchkouch is a Moroccan-French student of Foreign Applied Languages, English - Arabic, specialized in International Relations at the University of Bordeaux and interns at the Center for Arab-West Understanding.