Social Impact
Work given to the community rather than sold to it: training artisans — most of them women — teaching craft, and opening design to children who would not otherwise meet it. None of this is commercial.
A weekly programme from Egypt’s National Council for Women on the knowledge behind the country’s handcrafts. Mahinaz Elmessiry presented a series of episodes for artisans — the variety of Egyptian embroidery, the forms and colours of Siwan embroidery, why design matters, and how to take handmade products to the international market.
A volunteer initiative that looks for artistic talent among children in orphanages and care homes, and gives it somewhere to go. It began in 2007, took the name Tayara Waraq — paper kite — in April 2020, and now runs programmes across several fields with specialists in each.
Recognised by the Minister of Communications and Information Technology for her part in a national initiative through which she trained 21 Egyptian craftspeople — passing on the design and technique that let artisans build work of their own.
A training programme run with the Ministry of Tourism and USAID, taking workshops to artisans in cities across Egypt. The sessions covered design, technique and finish, and how to bring handmade work to market — so that craftspeople, most of them women, can build names of their own rather than working anonymously, at fair pay and with traditional methods and materials.
Design and craft workshops run in orphanages and with initiatives supporting children living on the street — teaching a skill, and treating making as something worth doing for its own sake.
