The Loom Handwoven Patchwork Tablecloth

The Loom Handwoven Patchwork Tablecloth is a celebration of one of Egypt’s oldest surviving textile traditions. Each of its individual fabrics is woven by hand in Upper Egypt, in a village that was already an important centre of textile production in ancient Egyptian times and became renowned for its extraordinarily intricate textiles during the Coptic era. Today, only a handful of artisans continue to practise this remarkable weaving tradition. Working on traditional looms, they create individual textiles in stripes, checks and subtly intricate patterns, each with the small irregularities and variations that reveal the hand of its maker. For The Loom, these different weaves are brought together in a patchwork of ochre, dusty pink, blue, soft green and natural tones, creating a composition that feels at once ancient and strikingly modern. The result is as much an art piece as a tablecloth. Use it to transform a table for a special dinner or celebration, or simply leave it draped across the table and allow the textile itself to become the decoration. Away from the dining room, The Loom is beautiful hung on a wall as a piece of textile art or laid across a bed as a decorative cover. At ANUT Cairo, preserving Egyptian craft means finding new ways for these traditions to live. The Loom brings the work of Upper Egypt’s remaining handweavers into the contemporary home, celebrating not only the beauty of what they make, but the knowledge carried through generations to make it. A piece to live with, to treasure and, one day, to pass down.