Aya Hamada

Aya Hamada is a ceramicist and 2018 graduate of the Jameel House of Traditional Arts in Cairo. Aya established her ceramics brand, Aya Ceramics, in 2020 that operates from a studio in Fustat, Historic Cairo and creates decorative designs inspired by Islamic art and nature. She is a ceramics designer at the Egyptian Heritage Rescue Foundation (EHRF), and is also an accomplished children's book illustrator. Previously, she was a ceramicist at the Replica Production Unit within the Egyptian Ministry of Antiques.

Extending from her training at the Jameel House, Aya is involved in education and outreach initiatives promoting Islamic Arts. She has conducted a series of workshops focused on traditional crafts, including a collaborative project exploring traditional colouring techniques for geometric Islamic patterns which was held at the Egyptian Cultural Bureau in London and at Bayt Al-Razzaz in Cairo.

Between 2018-2019, she served as an Islamic art tutor at Bayt Yakan, a restored house in Cairo's Darb Al-Ahmar neighbourhood dedicated to preserving cultural heritage that delivers periodic workshops to women and children in traditional crafts. Her commitment to preserving cultural heritage was further demonstrated in her participation in a 2019 project to conserve Cairo's Mamluk minbars.