CAIRO - He sits at his wooden loom, spinning coloured yarn to make elegant carpets. He's like a masterful musician playing his instrument, with beautiful melodies emerging from his fingers. Hajj Sayyed Kohel, Cairo's oldest carpet maker, has a small shop in Darb el-Ansea Street in the ancient Soaa el-Selah (Arms Market) district, in Islamic Cairo, where he has been working for 53 years. "I inherited this job from my grandfathers. I was born with a wooden loom in my hand," Hajj Kohel says. "I don't know how else to earn my living. ”My grandfather and father were struggling to make a profit, so I had to leave school and help them in their shop; they taught me how to make special carpets with the loom.” Egypt has been a key centre for carpet making since the early Islamic era. Here, the industry peaked in the Mamluk and Ottoman eras. Because of its importance, the Ottoman Sultan Murad III asked the Waily (ruler) of Egypt to send him ten carpet makers and provide them with abundant dyed wool. In Mamluk times, Islamic Cairo was the home to many carpet-making workshops, each with their looms. When he was 20 years old and decided to marry, Hajj Kohel's father gave him a small shop, so he could be independent and earn his living by himself. "The wooden loom is my friend. I have four sons and two daughters, but I don't want them to work in this profession, because it's so difficult to make a living making carpets these days," he says sadly. “My health isn't what it was, but I still work more than 10 hours a day. However, I only earn between LE800 and LE1,000 [about $170] per-month and I have to pay LE100 of that in rent on the shop. “I can make seven sections of carpet per day, but working on a loom is very stressful. Sometimes, I only make LE3 (less than 50 cents) in profit on each section.” Despite his complaints, Hajj Kohel cannot keep away from his loom. “It's like my soul,” he adds with a sigh. Back in the 1950s, the ‘Arms Market' was full of shops selling guns; all that remains today are the names of the owners above their empty shops. “There were about 20 weaving workshops in this district. Today, only mine is left,” he commented in an interview with the Egyptian Mail. In the past, only Pashas could afford the handmade carpets without asking about the price. Each carpet was unique; no two handmade carpets were ever the same. The poor people could only afford machine-made carpets. “Nowadays, very few people buy hand-made carpets. But tourists are aware of their value. I have exported my products to America, Russia, and France, in addition to Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE and Libya," he adds proudly. Kohel says that these hand-made kilim carpets are used in cars, baladi (local) coffee shops and the homes of the poor. Some rich people like them for the floors of their villas or seaside chalets. ”Today, you can count the number of families working in this trade on the fingers of one hand. Most of the workshops have closed, because they were old and started falling apart. In any case, the buildings in this district are of architectural importance, so it's illegal to renovate them. “At the same time, mechanisation is killing the loom - few people today know how to use it,” adds Hajj Kohel, wondering why the Government has stopped the Youth and Sports Exhibition. “The exhibition was free and the poor people were welcome to participate. I participated several times and sold many elegant carpets in the exhibition," Kohel recalls. "It was a very good advertisement for us and I do hope it starts again next year, to help save this profession from extinction," he adds hopefully.
