In pics: Know more about Egypt’s still standing industry of seashells

CAIRO – 1 August 2022: The village of Sakiet Al-Manqdi, affiliated to Ashmoun Center, Menoufia Governorate, is one of the most famous villages in the seashell industry in Egypt.

Mahmoud Quta is considered the founder of the profession in the village since 1974. Shell industry is believed to have provided lots of job opportunities to citizens in the village, reducing the unemployment rate there.

 

Muhammad Adlan, a owner of a shell-making workshop in the village of Sakiet Al-Manadi, said that the seashell industry goes through 5 stages of production.

Seashells industry is used in the manufacture of furniture for salons, dining rooms, bedrooms, Arab boards, tables of all kinds, and antiques.

The first stage is carpentry. The second stage is fraying, which is a manual interlocking of ancient, traditional Islamic geometric shapes, in which no machines or printers are used, but all work is done by hand.

 

This role is carried by skilled craftsman who produces the pieces in accordance with the customer's desire, fill the engineering drawings with natural seashells.

Adlan indicates that the third stage is the finishing, which is a polyester material to fill the spaces between the engineering drawings, then the product is sanded to show the features of the drawings, the surface of the product is modified so that it appears in the best image. .

Then comes the fourth stage of painting using shiny polyester to protect the product from the heat, air and moisture. The shiny polyester is a glass material to protect the product from cracking and atmospheric factors in order to be preserved for a long period of time.

He adds that the last stage, which is the upholstery stage, comes according to the desire of the work in terms of compressed sponge casings and the quality of fabrics, after which the product is wrapped to protect during transportation.

He confirms that the prices of the types that are manufactured from shells are as follows: the prices of the sofas start from 16 thousand pounds to twenty thousand pounds, which is 4 foot chairs, a 3-seater sofa, 3 tables of different sizes.

The corner price starts from 2500 to 3 thousand pounds, and the bedrooms are from 40 thousand Up to 60 thousand pounds, according to the customer's desire.

While for the raw materials used in manufacture, Adlan said they are: red fumigated beech wood, suede wood plywood of all kinds, natural seashell, polyester material, and glue.