textile design
Patterns of Cairo
Client Name
collaboration
Year
2024-2025
Project Details
textile design
Project Scope
the manifestation of shape
In the heart of Cairo, patterns tell stories. These stories shift and transform over centuries. My work within the Patterns of Cairo project examines this evolution. I trace how architectural patterns change through time, reinterpretation, and cultural influence. By altering lines, colours, negative spaces, and material applications, I question where a pattern’s original essence ends and something entirely new begins.
This raises critical questions. How much can a pattern change before it loses its identity? What are the consequences for cultural heritage? Through the Patterns of Cairo project, I explore how modern interpretations reshape the visual language of Cairo’s past. In collaboration with Egyptian artisans, I bring these historic patterns to life using traditional textile crafts such as kilim and khiyamiyya.
Patterns of Cairo
patterns within historic cairo
The Patterns of Cairo project records, digitises, and shares knowledge of patterns from Historic Cairo through an open access platform featuring over 200 curated designs. I was invited to join a four day workshop in September 2024 with Dutch and Egyptian designers.
The Works
patterns reinterpreted in textiles
Pattern no. 040 from the Ibn Tulun Mosque is an early example of Islamic design with threefold and sixfold symmetry. Its ornate character, far from minimal, is what drew me to reinterpret this richness into a more reduced textile design. The process begins with a faithful translation of the architectural pattern into textile, after which elements are gradually removed, moving towards a more minimal expression.
In doing so, I explore how far this reduction can go while the essence of the pattern remains. The design is executed in Khiyamiyya, a traditional Egyptian appliqué technique used for tentmaking, in which layered cotton fabrics are hand cut and stitched to create intricate patterns. Here, it is made using cotton fabrics and yarns, combining appliqué with embroidery.
Pattern no. 015 found across Historic Cairo, shows strong adaptability in scale, from large architectural surfaces to fine details. Built from overlapping rotated squares, it can be repeated as a linear frieze, often framing elements such as mihrabs or fountains. While typically executed in marble, with some variations in other materials, it appears in both Ottoman and Mamluk contexts.
This pattern speaks to me because of its striking graphic simplicity, which reflects my overall design signature. It creates a rhythm that feels effortless, yet sophisticated. This geometric clarity allows the pattern to be scaled seamlessly. Its versatility speaks to its timeless quality, but it’s the clean, structured composition that captures my attention, showing how something simple can remain captivating across different iterations.
The Colours
who’s afraid of red, yellow and blue
The colour palette refers to traditional plant dyes such as indigo or weld (blue), madder (red) and reseda (yellow), historically used in textiles. It also draws on the image in The Tentmakers of Cairo by Seif el Rashidi and Sam Bowker.
The use of red, yellow and blue introduces a familiar triad, set against its historical context. Reworking the pattern in these tones, with references to Egypt, gives the design a more distinct textile character.
The Manifestation of Shape
reframing heritage
My work titled “The Manifestation of Shape”, taken from the book Islamic Patterns by Keith Critchlow, bridges the old and the new, preservation and transformation. The patterns I reinterpret hold the stories of the past, but through these collaborations, they evolve into something that speaks to both history and contemporary design.
Design is a living entity, constantly evolving while remaining closely connected to its origins. Through this project, I invite others to reconsider how we interpret, preserve and rework Cairo’s rich design heritage.
Project
Concept and Design
Laura Luchtman, Kukka
Patterns of Cairo project
implemented by Megawra
initiated by the Embassy of the Netherlands in Egypt
Khiyamiyya production by Nareng
Reem Magdy (dyeing)
Asmaa Hussein
Omnia Sayed
Eman Rizk
Thanaa Ahmed
Abeer Khalil
Azza Abd al-Moneim
Samar Said
Soha Mohamed
Fatma Gaber
Nagham Awad
Maha Abd al-Majid
Marwa Abd al-Hayy
Walaa Abd al-Maksoud
Shaima Yousef (oversight)
Kilim production by Kiliim
Amira Ramadan
Muhammed Abd El Ghany
Mahmoud Abd El Ghany
Ismail Fathy
Photography
Salma Shehattah
Nada Hany Shendy, Megawra
Laura Luchtman, Kukka
exhibitions
Founders Spaces
Cairo Design Week
Embassy of the Netherlands in Egypt
press
SceneNow
made possible by
Embassy of the Netherlands in Egypt
