Cairo’s Oldest Dye House

September 2020

Cairo’s Oldest Dye House focuses on a family-run textile workshop in El-Darb El-Ahmar, Cairo, Egypt, operated by Salama “Hag” Mahmoud since 1975. The dye house has been in operation since 1901 and is widely described as the oldest operating dye house in Cairo, where hand-dyeing is sustained through daily labor and family practice.

Salama works alongside his sons and grandchildren, who learned the craft through apprenticeship in the dye house. Threads are wrapped onto wooden staffs, submerged in heated dye baths, run through a wringer to partially dry, and hung outdoors to finish drying. Each stage relies on experience built over years of work rather than formal measurement.

As industrial textile production has expanded, traditional dye houses have steadily disappeared. Despite these changes, the workshop continues through the labor of those who maintain it, keeping a centuries-old technique and tradition alive in the face of modern production and innovation.

Elderly dye artisan man wearing traditional clothing sits surrounded by large spools of white thread.

Salama “Hag” Mahmoud (Owner)

Dye artisan man working with red yarn in a textile workshop, surrounded by colorful fabrics and cotton bags.

Mohammed Camel (Artisan)

Egyptian dye artisan in a workshop dyeing yarn in a tub filled with yellow dye.

Mahmoud "Samir" Salaman (Artisan)

Egyptian dye artisan standing in a dimly lit dye workshop with a package of yellow yarn.

Mohammed Mustafa (Artisan)

View of broken and damaged roof with beams against a bright sky inside an Egyptian dye house.
Egyptian dye artisan working in dark, pouring liquid into large steaming pot over fire.
Egyptian dye artisan stirring a steaming red dye liquid in a large bathtub, in a dimly lit area.
Three Egyptian dye artisans working in a textile dyeing workshop, with one man smoking and handling white yarn while two others handle red dyed fabric.
Egyptian dye artisans touching wooden rods and cloth in a dye workshop.
Two Egyptian dye artisans in a dimly lit room with stone walls, handling bundles of bright red fabric. One person is wearing a striped shirt, and the other is wearing a tank top. Sunlight streams in, highlighting the fabric.
Egyptian dye artisan working in a dimly lit textile dyeing workshop, handling colorful dyed yarns in shades of yellow, pink, and blue.
A man stands outside an Egyptian dye workshop, lighting a cigarette next to parked motorcycles and scooters carrying bags of colorful dye textiles.
Egyptian dye artisan hanging red yarn for drying on a wooden frame outdoors.