Developing Al Foustat Crafts and Ceramics Centre

                                                                                                                                                           

 

The Prince’s School, with the support of Mr. Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel and in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, has opened a regional centre for the renewal of traditional Islamic art and crafts education in Cairo.

 

The aim is to establish a centre of excellence for the renewal and promotion of the traditional Islamic visual arts and crafts. This has been accomplished through the development of an educational programme, guidance in product development, and identification and cultivation of opportunities to bring products to market.

 

The Prince’s School has developed a curriculum for a two-year diploma course especially for the Centre based on the regeneration and renewal of traditional Islamic visual arts and crafts as a living practice.  Specialised short courses are also being developed.

 

Local teachers and staff will be trained by the tutors of The School to ensure the continuity of the programme, with the aim of turning the project over to them in three years time. The programme for education also includes scholarships for the support of twenty local, and ten foreign, students each year, as well as provision for the development of education and reference materials relevant to the cultural setting of the Centre.

 

The programme was established at Al Foustat Crafts and Ceramic Centre, a natural location as Al Foustat is considered to be the home of ceramics in Egypt.  The centre is housed in a building designed by the architect Gameel Amer, a disciple of the late Egyptian architect and early proponent of sustainable, traditional architecture, Hassan Fathy.  Al Foustat was the first city founded by the Muslims in Egypt, very near to early Christian and Jewish settlements whose churches and synagogue still remain here.

 

The Crafts Centre has long been a gathering place for artists and craftsmen from many countries.  The Prince’s School began with an eighteen-month education programme at the Centre. This programme became the inspiration for the further development of the Centre for Traditional Islamic Arts and Crafts Education here.

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