Learn Traditional Siwan Silver Jewellery Making in Egypt's South Sinai

Nestled between the mountains of Egypt’s South Sinai and the serene waters of the Red Sea, Dar-Jan is an organic farm and art space, offering visitors and volunteers an inspiring and connective community based  ‘travel’ experience, and encouraging agriculture and cultural exchange through small group activities. With their new ‘Egyptian Handicraft Heritage’ workshop series, you can also learn a unique new skill while you live your best traveller life.

The upcoming Siwan Jewelry Making workshop will teach participants how to create silver jewellery using traditional techniques born in the Western Desert Oasis of Siwa and kept alive by a few passionate practitioners. The workshop will cover all the stages of production from cutting the silver and drawing the design, to practicing traditional hand engraving and welding. Participants will go home with their own unique piece of pure silver jewellery.

“We want to help guard Egyptian artistic heritage disappear by inviting the last craftspeople to teach the secrets of their art,” Dar-Jan co-founder Gihan Zakaria tells #SceneTraveller.

The three-day experience is led by Salma Gogies who is amongst the dwindling number of craftspeople still producing silver jewellery using ancient hand engraving techniques. Trained by masters of silver crafting, Gogies founded Tiltawein Group, a social movement geared towards training Siwan women in the craft and developing the market for women-made Siwan handicrafts locally and abroad.

The workshop will take place from September 23rd to September 26th at a cost of EGP 5,200 (or about $330) per person, including accommodation in double occupancy tents, materials, tools, meals and beverages and transportation inside Nuweiba during the workshop.

To sign up go to Dar-Jan’s Instagram page at @darjan_nuweibaa and click their link in bio.

HOW TO GET THERE:

🚗 Approximately six hour drive from Cairo.

✈️ Flight from Cairo International Airport to Sharm El-Sheikh International Airport (one hour) followed by a two hour (approx) drive.