The Beginning

Sevinch and I came to Egypt in early 1992. She, bless her heart, had accompanied me on previous postings such as post-revolutionary Iran, and Nigeria. Never, ever did she moan or complain about the conditions she found; but on the contrary went out and about looking for opportunities and situations which would keep her occupied and fulfilled.

As you can imagine, in these countries it was not so easy. So visualise her delight when we came to Egypt, which to her was a treasure house of opportunity. On an almost daily basis she would come home from the bazaar with some treasure, huge brown eyes aglint with delight and enthusiasm. “Darling, do you think I could make a business out of this?” she would exclaim.

And then one day, the coup de foudre. A tassel. A dog-eared mongrel of a tassel, old, moth-eaten; but it stole her heart. “Isn’t this just the most beautiful thing you have ever seen?”

That was in 1992. And today, her tassels are hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Wallace Collection, embassies, palaces, and the homes of the rich and famous.

I have started this blog to tell the story of how it was done. It is a tale full of fun, full of buffoonery, chaotic and at times terrifying. It is a tale that is not yet ended.