Traditional Crafts
·
Report on Traditional
Crafts for the IMC of the Ministry of Industry:
o
In 2009, the Ministry of
Industry established a five-year plan dedicated to incorporating traditional
crafts in its development program. They were interested in investigating the
status of various Egyptian crafts. The Ministry approached ESFT to undertake
this task.
o
Through the pilot survey,
we recorded 363 traditional crafts. Locations were revisited to conduct
in-depth surveys in the crafts.
o
Although the research was
done, unfortunately the project was not implemented due to changes of cabinet
and other changes related to the revolution of January 25th 2011.
o
The study is still viable,
for it documented and preserved a large number of crafts. Presently, the
Ministry of industry is very much interested in incorporating traditional
crafts into the national economy of the country and hopefully they make use of
the survey that we accomplished.
o
The Impact of the
contributions to the preservation and accessibility of the documentary
heritage:
§
Data collection
methodologies
§
A research station in each
governorate
§
A research team was
organized and trained
§
Crafts were located
o
The IMC had the following
queries which were delivered in the report.
§
Number and names of
existing traditional crafts
§
Crafts that have an
important function
§
Crafts which have a
potential for development
§
Crafts which cluster in a
particular region and have an impact on the economy of the region
§
Crafts of the marginal
sectors of the society e.g. women
§
Special attention to crafts
with a long history and authenticity
§
Social and environmental
conditions
§
Economic standards
§
Acquisition of the skills
§
Technology of the crafts
§
Hazards of the crafts
§
Working conditions
(lighting, cleanness, organization, etc.)
§
Child labor
§
Insurance facilities
§
Wages or income
§
Basic information about
practitioners: age, sex, education, marital status, number of children)
§
System of acquisition of
the craft
§
Types of tools
o
Some specific crafts were subject to further in-depth studies
§
Traditional musical
instruments
§
Traditional wood carving
§
Traditional pottery of Old
Cairo
§
Traditional Blown Glass
§
Klim of Marsa Matrouh
§
Crafts related to Palm
Trees
§
Traditional foods and
beverages which have potential for development
§
Hand loom Weaving of
Akhmim.
§
Craft of Fringes
§
Craft of Boat Carpentry
§
Traditional Craft of
Kheyamia embroidery
o
The following were
recommendations for the development of traditional crafts as presented by ESFT
to IMC:
1. Crafts should be preserved, but should be improved upon if
necessary.
2. Developers should realize that crafts are a source of
inspiration for industrialization and are important for an Egyptian image and
identity.
3. Developing the logistics of traditional crafts is essential.
4. It is important to study pioneer Egyptian projects and
acknowledge the reasons for their success. It is also essential to learn from
foreign experiences (e.g. Spain, India and East Asia)
5. Training should make use of simple technology, which would
facilitate work.
6. Innovation should be encouraged.
7. Cultural, social and humanistic aspects need be considered.
8. Traditional and unique crafts of Egypt need to adopt
international standards of production.
9. Attempts need to be made towards industrialization, in terms of
production scale, management and logistics and not just automation, to benefit
the Egyptian workforce.
10. Patronage of developed industrial firms is needed to assist
traditional crafts that are relevant to their industrial production, e.g.
exposing the traditional craftsmen and their products in international fairs to
show that their products have historic depth.