Egyptian Artist and Architect Ramses Wissa Wassef had not anticipated when he created his art center for textiles, in Harrania district of Giza in the 1950s, that his small town students would turn into world-renowned artists. Wassef cultivated the innate creative prowess of the little children when he began to teach them the art of weaving on the loom, in a pioneering attempt to protect the Egyptian heritage as he saw the detrimental effect of machinery on the traditional craft.
The children’s talents were put on display for the first time outside of Egypt in 1958 in Switzerland, and over time became a permanent and notable guest to international exhibitions. The tapestries of Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Center are known for their vibrant colors extracted from rare plants planted within the center itself, weaved onto the tapestries is the lush Egyptian countryside, with its plush greenery, water channels and Egypt’s traditional fauna. – KUNA