Sieve-making craft hangs by a thread in modern era
OLD-TIME CRAFTSMEN SIFT THROUGH TOUGH TIMES AS THEIR ART IS NOT MUCH NEEDED
His dwindling customers fondly call him “Amm Araby the clock” because he is always at in his workshop by 9am.
Punctuality has been a trademark of the 67-year-old for about five decades, making him a well-known sievemaker in the Old Cairo district of Al Sayeda Zeinab.
The sieve is a cylindrical wooden frame tightly attached to a woven thread net or metal mesh and used to separate stuff like grains and flour from impurities. Sieve sizes and holes depend on the types of particles to be separated. The trade is traced back to the time of the Pharaohs.
“I learnt this craft from my father, who inherited it from my grandfather,” said Araby, glancing at the various types of sieves stacked in his workshop. “I have been in this trade for 50 years and have never failed to be here, except under difficult circumstances such as on the day of the Cairo fire,” he told Gulf News.
On January 26, 1952, a massive blaze swept through central Cairo, damaging many historic buildings amid political turmoil in then British-occupied Egypt. Those behind the suspected ■ arson were never identified. Six months later, a group of young officers toppled the monarchy, and started a process of ending British colonialism in the country.
A father of three, Araby is known for crafting sieves of different types and sizes. “In the past, there was no house in Egypt where a sieve could not be found. The small-hole sieve was used for sifting flour, rice or salt,” he explained. “This sieve was an essential part of the trousseau of any newly married woman. But it is no longer in use because flour, rice and salt are now available neatly packed in stores,” he added.
Araby is the last surviving sieve-maker in his district. ■ “Moreover, people in the countryside have stopped baking bread at home and now buy it — like townsfolk — at bakeries. Times have changed a lot,” he said, tenderly stroking his pet cat.
Large-sized sieves have survived changes in Egyptian lifestyle. “In recent years, I have mainly been making sieves with nets needed by shops selling leb [roasted edible seeds] and peanuts,” said Refai Hassan at his workshop in the Islamic Cairo quarter of Al Darb Al Ahmar.
“I also continue to manufacture metal sifters with large holes needed to separate coals from impurities. This type of coal is usually used at coffee shops serving shisha for smokers, and restaurants offering grilled meat,” the father of four, aged 58, said.
“This is a blessed craft that has helped me provide for my family and educate my children. When they were still young, they used to assist me and accompany me to the market to sell our products. But now, they have other jobs and they do not want to continue making sieves.
“The youth want to make as much money as possible in no time. So, many people have left exhausting crafts like mine for more lucrative jobs, such as driving the tuktuk,” he added, referring to the motorised three-wheel rickshaw, a popular mode of transportation in Egypt.
Amm Araby | Sieve-maker