Support to Majdalawi weavers

Palestine

The Majdalawi textile is a homegrown Palestinian material, distinctive both as a fabric and for the unique loom on which it is woven. Production first ceased during the 1948 Nakba and was revived only in the late 1990s by a small group of Gaza weavers who kept the craft alive, working with Nol Collective, a hyper-local Palestinian slow-fashion brand.

Israel's attacks on Gaza in 2024 ended production entirely for the first time in three decades. Both Majdalawi studios Nol Collective worked with were destroyed by bombings, and weavers had already dismantled their own looms, desperate for firewood amidst the harsh conditions. No Majdalawi looms survive in Gaza, and the weavers themselves have been displaced or killed. One weaver, Hussam Zaqout, evacuated to Cairo with part of his family in March 2024 and rebuilt a loom there from memory, using funds raised by Nol Collective.

With €18,636 from CER, Nol Collective and Dr Nadirah Mansour worked to secure the craft and record its heritage. The project contributed to the rent of Zaqout's new studio in Cairo and equipped it with raw materials and tools, so that a working loom could become a working studio again.

Oral histories were collected from Majdalawi weavers displaced in Egypt and from those still in Gaza, documenting techniques and equipment in detail alongside the social role the textile has held. The weavers shaped what was recorded and were paid for their time, creating a resource for their own craft and income at a moment when few other sources exist.