Cairo - In the "City of the Dead," a popular neighbourhood built in Cairo atop a cemetery, Khalid strives, following the steps of his father and his grandfather before him, to keep the age-old tradition of glass blowing alive by crafting lamps, vases, cups and a variety of ornaments.
The workshop, established in 1973, is located near the historic Qaitbey Mosque, built during the Mamluk Dynasty in the year 1435 and considered a masterpiece of Islamic architecture.
Khaled Ahmed, 50, is very proud of his work in his small glass factory.
It was thanks to his artistry that was invited (like his father was last October) to take part this February in an exhibition, financed by the European Union, featuring European and Egyptian contemporary artists and craftsmen of Cairo.
Khaled, who speaks with measured tranquillity, shows visible enthusiasm when talking about his craft, describing it as a hobby that has him hooked rather than a job he is tied to for life.
Throughout the conversation with Khaled, he proudly shows brochures of exhibitions he had participated in, as well as local magazines featuring photographs of himself and his workshop.
He explains that most of the workshop's production is sold in shops located in the nearby neighbourhood of Khan el-Khalili, in a market (carrying the same name as the district) founded in 1382 by the ruling Mamluks.
Khaled's workshop is narrow, old and full of differently-coloured shreds of broken glass and newly-manufactured pieces.
He recalls that after the death of his father he decided to renovate the small factory, which produces a daily average of forty pieces of glass in various colours.
He says that he started teaching glass blowing to his children to protect the craft from extinction.
Khaled cites his grandfather as a major influence in his passion for the art, in addition to its uniqueness: he confirms that there are very few glass workshops in the whole city of Cairo, a megalopolis hosting 20 million inhabitants.
"When a tourist comes to speak with me, watches me working and asks for any of my products, I get happy because I feel unique," Khaled tells EFE.
Khaled and his assistants melt glass waste collected from different Cairo neighbourhoods in a gas furnace at a temperature of over 1,000 degrees Celsius.
When the hot paste cools off, it transforms into a vitreous and flexible mass; certain oxides can be added to give it the desired colour.
Air is then blown through a three-foot tube, turning the liquid into a glass bubble, which the craftsman shapes by pressuring it with different metal tools.
Khaled's son Ahmed, 28, tells EFE that he will continue to work in this profession because it is his family's legacy, as well as art.
The future heir of the business says that he is proud that "there are people who come from abroad with designs drawn on paper for us to manufacture."
However, he admits with some concern that sales have fallen significantly in recent years due to fewer tourists visiting Egypt since the start of the country's ongoing political transition.
The Director of the Habi Centre For Environmental Rights, Mohamed Nagui, stressed that this profession has roots in an archaic tradition of recycling, adding that recycling "is an ancient Egyptian behaviour that goes back thousands of years. In Egypt, nothing is thrown away."
However, Nagui regretted that the reutilization of used objects has become an isolated phenomenon and that "governmental efforts in this area are still weak," when it should instead be an important public policy.
EFE
