Since the January 25th uprising and the rise of startup culture across the MENA region, many Egyptian entrepreneurs and creatives have launched ethically and socially conscious businesses. One such disruptive social enterprise is local tapestry and upholstery brand Kilim, which was launched in 2016 with the aim of preserving, reviving, and modernizing the dying art of kilim, or traditional flat-woven tapestry, a craft that dates back to the Persian Empire. “I wanted to launch a project that had a social impact. [And] my wife and co-founder, Noha El Taher, is a graphic designer and, [at the time], she was teaching design for social entrepreneurship at the German University in Cairo (GUC),” says Kiliim co-founder Ibrahim Shams. The duo were in the midst of decorating and furnishing a new room when they first became aware of the gap in the local kilim market, after failing to find designs that matched the overall aesthetic of their house. Soon after their fruitless thorough search, Kiliim was born. “I suggested to Noha that we launch an online store where we modernize the designs of kilim, while maintaining its over all traditional look,” he recounts….
The Internationally Acclaimed Egyptian Brand Reviving the Dying Craft of Kilim
October 22, 2019
