In 1962, Safia Farhat and Abdelaziz Gorgi, the first Tunisian artists to teach at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Tunis, inaugurated the Société Zin to channel commissions for public and civic artworks. Framed by the dual objectives of expanding the Ecole’s section of applied arts and revitalizing the Tunisian artisanat, Farhat and Gorgi were committed to materializing elite conceptions of tunisianité, or Tunisian cultural patrimony, from their base in the city of Tunis. Due to the large number of civic buildings under construction or renovation, in addition to dozens of emerging private banks and hotels, Farhat and Gorgi generated patrons among wealthy business owners, politicians, and renowned architects. The two artists designed maquettes for monumental artworks in various media, including tapestry, mosaics, ceramics, ironwork, and stained glass, which were often executed by artisans hired from the Office National de l’Artisanat. Among the more prominent clients were architect Olivier Clement Cacoub, whose colossal hotels and municipal buildings symbolized the fusion of economic objectives with modern aesthetics, and Naceur Malouche, president of the Fédération Tunisienne des Agences de Voyage. Based on primary research conducted in 2009-2010, this paper examines Tunis the city as a hub for the enterprising synthesis of modernity, state crafting, and art production in the 1960s. Three Tunis institutions, the Société Zin, the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and the Office National de l’Artisanat, were innovatively linked to a broader modernizing agenda by the astute maneuverings of Safia Farhat, who was herself intimately connected to the ministries through her marriage to Abdallah Farhat. The creation of modern art in Tunis was thus grounded not only in nationalist ideologies, but also on artists’ critical engagement with sites of economic and commercial development. Although paintings by the Ecole de Tunis are better ensconced in the canon of Tunisian modern art, artworks created under the auspices of the Société Zin, once displayed throughout the city, were crucial in defining the character of a new national art.