Egypt is legendary for its ancient historical past and tradition, but it surely is scuffling with a very fashionable downside: plastic waste.
The nation produces round 2.5 million metric tons of plastic waste every year and is liable for more plastic discharged into the ocean than some other nation within the Mediterranean area. Plastic baggage are a serious contributor, with an estimated 350 – 560 used per individual every year, in several areas.
Egyptian designers Mariam Hazem and Hend Riad are on a mission to present discarded plastic a brand new lease of life. Their Cairo-based life-style model Reform Studio transforms used plastic baggage into furnishings, garments and purses.
“We don’t treat waste as the end cycle of a material,” stated Riad. “We see it as an opportunity. We see it as a new material.”
Reform Studio’s merchandise are made with Plastex — a material the pair invented throughout their last 12 months on the German University in Cairo — which is produced by reducing plastic into thread-like kinds that are woven with cotton or different pure fibers.
The plastic threads aren’t dyed, which means every purse and merchandise of furnishings is exclusive, with collections protecting an eclectic vary of colours.
The designers stated testing has proven Plastex could be stretched to double its measurement and a bag created from the fabric can maintain greater than 50 kilograms (110 kilos).
The weaving is finished by native artisans on a handloom — a body that holds threads organized vertically below pressure, whereas the weaver interlaces horizontal threads over and below them by hand — modified barely to accommodate the revolutionary materials.
Egypt has a protracted custom of hand-weaving garments and textiles. The world’s oldest surviving woven garment, the Tarkhan Dress, which was found 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Cairo, is believed to have been made greater than 5,000 years in the past, between 3482 and 3102 BC.
Dr. Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, an Egyptian textile historian and archaeologist, says that the fertile land and availability of water within the Nile Valley made ancient Egypt extremely appropriate for rising flax — a plant used to provide linen textiles.
She added that the nation’s proximity to ancient commerce routes, together with the Silk Road, which related East Asia to the Middle East and Mediterranean, meant that Egyptian textiles have been extensively traded all over the world.
“You find Egyptian textiles in what is now Lebanon, and the Levant region. People in sub-Saharan Africa also wanted Egyptian linen,” she defined. “They were well-produced, and good quality. They were one of the main exports of the Egyptians.”
Within Egypt, she stated, textiles have been so extremely valued that they have been used as foreign money to purchase different items, and necessary figures — together with Pharaoh Tutankhamen — have been typically buried with an array of woven garments.
These days, handweaving in Upper Egypt — the world historically most related to the apply — is inscribed on the UN List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.
“It’s been dying out since the Industrial Revolution, and more specifically, since the widespread availability of cheap Chinese and Indian textiles,” stated Vogelsang-Eastwood, including that electrically powered looms are now generally utilized in textile manufacturing within the nation.
For Reform Studio, reviving the craft is a matter of preserving Egyptian historical past and tradition. “It’s part of our heritage. Every piece our craftsmen produce is unique,” stated Hazem. “It has a soul. You can feel it.”
The handmade textiles may also have much less influence on the planet. “Today, when you automate everything, you consume energy and a lot of resources,” stated Riad. “Going back to the old way of doing things has this edge of sustainability to it.”
But the designers discovered that introducing new supplies to a conventional craft was a problem. “It took us a lot of time to find craftsmen who were open to altering the way they weave. For them, it’s a heritage that’s passed through generations,” stated Hazem.
“Especially when you’re a female living in a male-dominated country, it wasn’t easy giving instructions to, or managing, teams of men almost double your age,” she added.
Reform Studio at present works with 14 weavers in Cairo, together with ladies from underprivileged communities who they’ve educated.
“For us, empowerment isn’t just about creating jobs, it’s about building confidence and preserving traditional knowledge, creating opportunities for these women to become financially independent,” stated Hazem.
Alongside a flagship retailer in Cairo, and an outlet within the Grand Egyptian Museum, Reform Studio sells its merchandise in Greece, Saudi Arabia and Japan. It has additionally beforehand partnered with IKEA on a group of African-designed furnishings.
The firm’s tote baggage have been exhibited within the V&A Museum, in London, since 2022, and its Ghoroub night bag assortment debuted throughout Paris Fashion Week in 2024.
Each product the corporate makes has a tag that exhibits what number of reused plastic baggage it’s composed of — typically 50 or 60 — and what number of craftspeople labored on it. Hazem and Riad stated that, thus far, Reform Studio has reused greater than 37 tons of waste.
The designers hope Reform Studio will develop into extra globally acknowledged, however say Cairo will all the time be on the coronary heart of the model.
“It’s very rich with history, vibrant colors, texture, architecture, craftsmanship. It constantly inspires our work,” stated Hazem. “We’re using an ancient solution to solve a modern problem.”