Revival and reuse of traditional design of carpets and kilim and develop it to keep up with the modern age.

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Spinning, Weaving and Knitting Dept - Faculty of Applied Arts - Damietta University

2 Professor - Glass department - faculty of applied art - helwan university

Abstract

There is no doubt that all humane arts generally in the beginning were created to perform a beneficial function to help the human to face nature and satisfy his daily needs, with life development he cared for enriching this function and added aesthetical side that converted such daily actions into works of art with high value and they are being collected for itself not for its function.

One of the most significant type of arts is the art of carpets and kilim manufacture that its basics weren’t known till the 24th century B.C, but for certain it evolved when the first human needed a cover to keep his body from heat and humidity while sleeping on the ground that caused him illness, in addition to roughness of the floor and its rigidity, which forced him to invent a mattress and a cover to protect his body. We can say that ancient Egyptians had manufactured handlooms for carpets around the year 2400 B.C as they weaved rugs made of papyrus as they had to cover floors of their temples with what fits the greatness of the worshiped god, and that was the first step for kilim manufacture.

The evidence is what was found engraved on the graves of Beni Hassan which represented women weaving carpets on looms that much resemble the ones that the east produces nowadays, figure no. 1. We find that Arab and eastern generally have excelled in such industry due to the nature of their lands that have many pastures which provide the materials required for carpet manufacture, due to their life style of continuous moving that made them skillful in handmade industries using the available materials around them and use them with methods which are resulting from the experience of long centuries, also the spread of this industry among women and children and they compete to produce good models with much creativity.

In the modern age we can find in Iran –Turkey – and Egypt many artistically complete and impeccable models with a distinguished artistic personality in their designs that characterize each city from the other, which provide a wide collection of shapes and designs related to this art field. The features of this distinguished personality are identified through the used materials whether cotton, wool or silk etc. also the decorative units

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