Lebanese Armenian Students Exhibited the Kilims They Wove at Haigazian University

BEIRUT — On Wednesday, July 19, 2023 the Haigazian University Arthur Matossian Gallery exhibited the handwoven kilims of 35 students from different Lebanese Armenian schools, and was attended by the students and some parents and school teachers and principals.

The kilims were the product of a nine-day-long “Weave your own kilim” workshop held at HU organized by the Student Life Office in collaboration with the Hovhannes Sharambeyan Folk Arts Museum in Armenia.

Between July 5 and 18, students from the Armenian Evangelical, and United Armenian Colleges, Armenian Evangelical Shamlian-Tatigian, Armenian Evangelical Central High, Armenian Catholic Holy Cross, AGBU, and Vahan Tekeyan schools participated in the “Weave your own kilim” workshop, where they learned the skills of weaving the kilim, and actually wove and exhibited their work in the above-mentioned exhibition.

During the nine three-hour sessions the students tenderly bonded themselves to carpet weaving and wove more than one kilim. Some even started their third kilim, others made their own designs, chose the colors of the Armenia-made wool, while others started to weave their own names. The weaving process continued after the sessions too, as the students excitedly took their unfinished work to their homes.

Next to the morning student sessions a five-session-long weaving workshop was organized in the afternoons where 13 adults participated. Some of their kilims were also exhibited.

All in all, 75 kilims were exhibited, which was the output of this workshop.