Egyptian artist Nasra Hassan’s efforts to revive the heritage of hand-woven fabrics using a wooden frame loom are never-ending. She brings back to life an ancient Egyptian art that dates back thousands of years, in a new form that keeps pace with the times, through her creations in this field that contain motifs and ancient heritage and folkloric elements, in addition to organizing art workshops for trainees of all ages; to transfer this great cultural heritage to them, and to achieve the concept of sustainability.

The loom is a machine used by the weaver to produce woven fabric. The shape, size and components of the loom vary depending on the size and specifications of the product. The basic looms for hand weaving can be classified into simple looms, hanging looms, kilims and carpets, table looms and floor looms. The most prominent type of loom is the frame loom, also known as the (frame), which is the loom used by the artist Nasra Hassan, who explains to “ Azwaaq” that it is: “The simplest type of hand looms consists of a wooden, metal or plastic frame, with a set of pins (nails, guides or pegs) fixed to this frame in its entirety or in part, which are used to tighten the warp threads on them in the order determined by the weaver or user, usually according to the size of the product to be implemented.” In her workshop, Hassan creates new pieces every day in different fields, including modern kilim fabrics suitable for modern homes, cushions, tablecloths, bags, portfolios, hangers, coasters for utensils, and tissue boxes, using kilim threads, wool threads of all kinds, gobelin threads, burlap, dubar, and cotton. She uses all of these in hand-weaving according to each woven piece.
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Hand-woven is one of the most important industries. Nasra Hassan tells “Azwaaq”: “I started my professional career in 2016. I was very influenced by our great heritage in this field. I found that hand-woven is one of the most important industries in the world. By doing research on hand-woven, I found that the beginning of weaving with a loom was in Pharaonic Egypt. Egypt also knew Coptic weaving, which it was famous for, along with papyrus, and it was at the top of its exports in the ancient world. Linen was the main raw material on which the ancient Egyptian textile industry was based. Egyptian looms produced linen of a soft type like silk for kings, princes, and mummies, and another coarse linen for the common people.” She continues: “It became a home industry in rural homes throughout the ages before it became threatened with extinction, unfortunately.” She continues: “The cities of Akhmim and the village of Abu Shaara in the Delta were famous for hand-weaving, and most of the ancient Egyptian homes had weaving looms, and generations inherited this industry, which still exists today in ancient Egyptian villages, and performs the same function in the same old way, but in a very limited way.” From here, the idea of reviving this art was born in Nasra’s mind… hand-weaving with a loom even in Cairo “where everyone is busy with the machine and other modern works,” as she put it, but she chose the simplest type of loom, which is the frame loom; Because it is faster and more suitable for the times than other types. The Egyptian artist cooperates with many cultural and artistic entities in organizing workshops to teach everyone this art, including the Gayer-Anderson Museum
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She also presents videos on YouTube that include video courses to teach it. She says, “My happiness is indescribable when I find a great turnout from Egyptian women to learn hand-loom weaving. It is our heritage and our ancient art that we must preserve and prevent its extinction.” She continues, “I also feel very proud when I find many trainees who have mastered this art and presented true masterpieces of weaving, which they sell and increase their income through their production, after joining the workshops that I present.”
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(Azwaaq (
Nasra… An inspiring story in hand-weaving
Nasra still remembers the beginnings, and hopes that every woman thinks of a hand-made project from the heritage of our ancestors. “The beginning was difficult, but it was fun and useful.” She continues to tell her inspiring story: “I wanted to launch a hand-made project of my own, because I love needlework and hand-sewing, and in my memory there were some ideas about the shape of the wooden loom, which the Egyptian school used to teach children in the past. From here, I started bringing pieces of cloth and turning them into strips, and bringing cardboard to work on it to weave. All of this embodied the beginning of a new stage in my life. After that, I started to implement a wooden loom measuring 70*90 to learn on, and I started to work, and I taught myself the steps and details of the work, step by step, and my goal at the time was to learn seriously.” Indeed, the artist mastered the craft and began to think about expanding her project
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“I started with fabric, recycling, then I worked with kilim thread, I worked on tablecloths and walkways, then I designed and made products such as kitchen units, coasters and portfolios of various sizes, and I also worked in the field of manufacturing hand-woven scarves, which is a very distinctive product, and I worked with different materials, such as cotton thread and synthetic wool, and I also moved towards making pendants.” In 2018, Nasra began the training phase on the wooden loom, and she also worked with kilim, and in 2020 she began preparing herself to enter the natural wool material (Joplin), and changed the size of the loom, and used new techniques that she learned on her own, and worked in drawn weaving (tapestry) and implemented pendants in different shapes and carpets with a loom size of 50 meters.
Nasra’s Dreams for Hand Weaving
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Nusra is currently preparing for a new production and learning new techniques in the field of hand weaving. She says: “I hope that the wooden loom will be present in every Egyptian home, so that we can learn on it and teach our children; because reviving heritage is very important to preserve our identity and authenticity.”
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