***NEW PAGE*** - The Day of The Forn - Firing The Clay

Mahmoud Yousef is one of a handful of young pottery artists who trained at the internationally famous Fayoum Pottery School, situated in the small village of Tunis in the Fayoum Oasis, Egypt. 

He was born close to Tunis village and as a child playing on his family's farm he began using clay to model the richly diverse wildlife of the oasis. At the age of seven, he presented himself at the school eager to learn more about working with clay.

The school, where children from the surrounding area come to learn the art of pottery making, was started in 1989 and is the vision of French potter, Evelyne Porret and her Swiss husband, artist Michel Pastore.

Mahmoud continued to study and then teach the younger children at the school throughout his teenage years. Now, at the age of twenty-four,  he has his own studio, gallery and Guesthouse "POTTERY ART - MAHMOUD YOUSEF" located just beyond the west of the village close to beautiful Lake Qarun

                                                                Fayoum International Pottery Festival

Every year in the first week of 
December, the potters and villagers of Tunis hold open house for the international guests who come from all over the world. During these 3 days, there are pottery workshops, parties, music, horse-riding, marionette shows and tours of the area.

Mahmoud's Guest House
Mahmoud has just built a guesthouse next to his studio and gallery and overlooking Lake Qarun. Click Mahmoud's GuestHouse to go to the page

How to get there

The Fayoum area is easily accessible from Cairo either by private taxi or microbus and the journey takes approximately one hour. The village of Tunis or Izbet Tunsi is at the far western end of Lake Qarun. Mahmoud's workshop and gallery are situated outside the western end of the village just off the lake road and in front of the mosque of Omar Al Farouq

More examples of Mahmoud's work

Contact Mahmoud Yousef

Email: potteryart.tunis@gmail.com

Mobile: (0020) 0100 875 9470