A Water Tree

Wood is expensive in Egypt so many things are made from wrought iron. This rack carries earthenware jars that keep water cool by evaporation through the clay. During Ramadan these jars would be upside down and empty until just before sundown.

Political Pottery

I've been gone for over three weeks now, having taken my annual holiday to visit my kids in New York City. It's pretty much the only traveling that I do and I'm always sort of stuck trying to find a reasonable present for them. New York apartments are notoriously tiny, so I have to come up with something useful, enjoyable and small. This year I found some Palestinian pottery at the Bedouin Market in Maadi. The owner imports Palestinian pottery from Hebron in the West Bank and I decided to combine my political inclinations with gift buying so they got some lovely tile hotplates and a bowl.

Christmas Shopping at the Fair Trade Shop

We have a lot of choices of places to shop for handicrafts here but my preference is for the shops that make sure that the artisans get their fair profit. This is a shop in Zamalek near 26th of July that carries fabrics, clothing, jewelry, baskets, rugs, pottery, embroidery...just to name a few.

Ali Baba Wuz Here

The Egyptians invented potshards. They used to bake their bread in pots and break them to get the bread out, then leaving the bits of pots around. We have tons of mud so the making of pots is still a major activity.