El Ashry Studios: The Dream of a Shaded Aswan. In these dreams, the scorching pavements are protected by blooming trees and a city-wide sunshade of colorful crocheted squares. Each one, stitched by a different pair of hands, protects the streets from the intense sun. It is a vision that is equal parts practical and poetic, and through the ‘Let’s Shade Aswan’ campaign, the dream is slowly becoming real.
The initiative, led by Cairo-based El Ashry Studios, is a community-driven campaign working to transform the public spaces of Aswan into cooler, greener, and more visually textured environments, all through the collective effort of ordinary hands.
Let’s shade Aswan
As a grassroots initiative, the campaign is open to everyone looking to help. Volunteers can help in creating crochet pieces that will go on to form streetwide shades. Hanging above pedestrian streets, these interlocking crochet panels will cast colorful shade onto the ground below while flooding the space with life. Alongside this centerpiece effort, volunteers can also join ‘The Tree Planting Team,” where they will spend a day lining the streets of Aswan with fruit trees such as mango, orange, or palm.
Artists or those who simply want to paint have the chance to restore older homes along the streets by painting them with traditional Nubian folk art, reviving a visual language central to Aswan’s identity. People can also join as workshop instructors or as photographers documenting the process of the campaign as a whole.
Stitching an Impossible Dream Into Reality
When El Ashry Studios first announced the initiative online, the team never anticipated just how fast the spark would catch.
“When we first posted about the initiative, we never thought that it would go that viral, and a lot of companies and big names started to contact us to help,” notes Ashraqat Allam, the campaign’s team leader.
What started as a local studio project quickly transformed into a nationwide movement, drawing in people from all walks of life.
Nadia Baraka, Team member, describes the incredible energy on the ground, noting, “I feel super excited as different age groups and different backgrounds with different skills in crochet have all come together to contribute.”
The scale of the project seemed daunting to outsiders, but the studio remained unfazed. “Our message is nothing is impossible,” Nadia explains.
“The idea of shading a big area with crochet was never an idea that anyone could mention as doable, but a lot of people joined.”
To find a solution for the street layouts, the team looked across the globe for inspiration.
“We took inspiration from a company in Mexico that had already successfully researched and implemented street canopies. Realizing that shading the streets of Aswan could solve so many local problems, we reached out to them. We then conducted our own research to adapt the idea to Aswan’s unique climate, and honestly, the community was on board right away,” Mohsen El Ashry explained.
Art Built on Love, Not Just Skill
A deeply rooted creative philosophy drives this ambitious environmental campaign.
Brothers Hassan and Mohsen El Ashry founded El Ashry Studios, transforming a chaotic family workspace into a flourishing community. As the entire studio project began when their creative endeavors, spanning sculpture, ceramics, and general artistic mess, began spilling into every room of their family’s home.
Sensing their need for space, their late grandmother stepped in, handing over the keys to her Giza apartment, which had been locked away and used for storage for twenty-five years.
The brothers renovated the space and began hosting workshops to give back to the craft community, creating a sanctuary for local talent. Today, the studio brings together around 60 artists across multiple disciplines, but its true value lies in its atmosphere.
“Al Ashry Studio is a place built on love and on the idea that we want people to feel at home even if they don’t have the skills,” says Ashraqat.
For the founders, technical perfection takes a backseat to human connection. “Art with love is much better than art with skill,” she added.
Preserving the Heritage of the South
The campaign goes far beyond simply providing physical shade; it is a profound act of cultural preservation. The initiative breathes new life into the historic homes of Aswan, preserving their unique spirit for generations to come. Volunteers partner with local residents to restore old structures, blending modern preservation techniques with timeless Nubian heritage.
“Unfortunately, the Nubian heritage is becoming overly modernized. All the Nubian houses now, in Gharb Seheil and other incredibly beautiful places in Aswan, have started basing their designs on Pinterest rather than the authentic craftsmanship of our great-grandfathers,” Mohsen added.
El Ashry Studios: The Dream of a Shaded Aswan. In Aswan, the studio is applying that same reverence for the past. Painting traditional Nubian art and crafting street canopies preserves Aswan’s vibrant visual identity for future generations.