Livre - The traditional jewelry of Egypt

For many women of Egypt, their jewelry is their bank-they wear their wealth in their gold. But jewelry in Egypt is also more than mere assets, and its design and manufacture reveal a great array of styles and a high degree of skill and artistry. In this lavishly illustrated book, Azza Fahmy, herself a world-renowned designer of jewelry based on traditional motifs, lays before us an Aladdin’s cave of jewelry made in all corners of Egypt over the last one hundred years, collected through her extensive travels throughout the country. From the farms and villages of the Nile Valley and Delta, from the oases of the Western Desert and the mountains and wadis of Sinai and the Eastern Desert, from Nubia in the south, and from the crowded traditional neighborhoods of Cairo is displayed a cornucopia of gold and silver adornment-each area with its own distinctive favored style. Personal seals have been widely employed, and there is even jewelry for special occasions, such as the appeasement of malignant spirits, and for animals.In this completely redesigned edition of her bestselling book, in a new and elegant format, the author not only documents all these varieties and illustrates them with the finest examples, she also describes the techniques and skills involved in their production and the materials used, and recounts her own journey of learning as she apprenticed with the leading master jewelers to become the best known jeweler in Egypt, whose work is worn by world leaders, royalty, and connoisseurs of jewelry around the globe. Azza Fahmy was born and raised in Sohag, in Upper Egypt. She graduated in interior design from the Faculty of Fine Arts, became the first female apprentice to several of the best jewelers in Cairo, and studied jewelry craft at the City of London Polytechnic. She now makes and markets her own jewelry internationally. “Fahmy’s jewelry catches the spirit of Arab tradition.” – Time Magazine “An exceptional women, who makes exceptional jewels in exceptional circumstances.” – The Teegraph “Azza Fahmy’s brand of tempered Middle Eastern exoticism has started to spread beyond the Arab world."--Financial Times “A top pick for any college-level or in-depth specialty collection focusing on either world jewelry in general or Egyptian history, culture and the arts in particular.” – Midwest Review of Books “Well-researched and beautifully.” – Book News “A delightful book to read and to look at. The text is informative, the photographs are superb, and Azza Fahmy’s passion for jewelry is clear throughout the book. And she succeeds in communicating her enthusiasm to readers.” – Arab News