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Photo courtesy of Kim Beamish
While millions around the globe cheered the overthrow of leadership in Egypt on January 25, 2011, one could hardly imagine the devastating consequences, including the effect on craftspeople who make their living hand stitching magnificent textile works for the tourist trade.

Producer Kim Beamish, who was introduced to the Tentmakers by Jenny Bowker, will launch a crowd
funding campaign on 1^st February 2013 to fund the documentary film, “The Tentmakers of Chareh El Khiamiah”, a feature length film following a small street of Egyptian textile artists who have been forced to adapt to the consequences of the 25 January Revolution.  The funding campaign will run for 30 days through the Australian website Pozible.com where Beamish hopes to raise $20,000 to cover production, travel and translation costs associated with the production of the film.

The Tentmakers of Chareh El Khiamiah still design and create the hand-sewn applique (called ‘Khiamiah’) that traditionally adorned the spectacular tents of the Ottoman Empire. In Egypt forty years ago magnificent applique screens were the back drop to street parties, weddings, Ramadan celebrations, political rallies, funerals and religious events. Today the screens are still used but almost all are made of printed fabric that looks like the tentmakers’ applique.

(Photo courtesy of Kim Beamish)

The work of the Tentmakers has evolved to suit changing tastes, but still faces extinction. It has been hit hard by the importation of cheap mass-printed imitation Khiamiah. The cessation of tourism following the Revolution of January 25, 2011 was a disaster for the Tentmakers.

After the fall of Hosni Mubarak’s regime, tourists from all parts of the world who would have flocked to Egypt year round stopped coming and so did their money. Prior to the Revolution, small streets such as Chareh El Khiamiah relied heavily on the tourist trade as they sold their wares into the larger more famous market, the Khan El Khalili. That trade is now all but gone and it is time for new markets to be found in Europe and the USA.

To learn more about this project click here.  To add your support click here.