“Hannih’s Craft House”…. Heritage revival project in the western countryside of Homs

Art teacher Nada Salibi allocated a side room in her rural house in the village of Al-Mashtayeh as a location for her project the “Hannih’s Craft House”.

The project’s idea is focused on reviving heritage through innovative artistic recycling that mimics the spirit of the age, as well as making the project a center for training in various arts, as it attracts students who wish to train.

Salibi explains that the project works to revive the ancient artistic heritage in the western countryside of Homs by recycling fabric, threads and other objects and teaching knit work, crochet, embroidery and patch art with new, innovative and modern sewing, through women of different ages, who learn, work and produce. The project also aims at training children and young people on a number of arts and crafts.

She added that the idea of creating the Hannih’s Craft House arose after she participated in an exhibition of handicrafts in Old Damascus in 2010. In 2014, her project became a school for training in various handicrafts.

“Handmade work is a noble art formulation of time and a dialogue of life with a raw material in which all senses and feelings are mixed, yearning for the end, a revival of damaged fabrics, threads and remnants of nature in a way that reflects creativity and beauty,” she says.

Salibi still keeps many pieces of heritage left by her mother and grandmother. She does not throw anything, she arranges and keep them, especially fabrics of all kinds, to reformulate them and produce more attractive pieces of art.

The “Hannih’s Craft House” project in Al-Mashtayeh of Wadi Al-Nadarah (Al-Nadara Valley) enjoys wide popularity among the people of the valley and the neighboring villages.

Amal Farhat