texts and essays
Traveling Lotus and Stolen Faience: Egypt’s Art Deco Legacy
by Adham Hafez
But perhaps it’s the scarab in Maison Cartier’s iconic brooch from their 1924 collection that made me ask what Western modernism is made of? For many, the brooch symbolizes the elegance and opulence both of Maison Cartier, as well as of the Art Deco aesthetic. It is made out of diamonds, emeralds, enameled parts and quartz, and the signature material: ancient Egyptian faience – a material extracted from ancient Egyptian pottery and jewelry. The very material of what was once the symbol of peak modern elegance is made out of the extracted remains of Ancient Egyptian objects, disassembled jewelry, and ceremonial items. Colonialism extracts, and design remembers.
The cap of the pyramid: On design districts and neighborhoods
Interview: Adam Samuel Kucharski
A design district is like the cap on a pyramid, or the visible part of an iceberg. It is built on layers, upon layers, upon layers of local economies, blurred lines between industrial sectors and design sectors, layers of pedagogy, training, and educational institutions including vocational institutions, vibrant constructions, and multiple cultures. And that’s also built upon a long history of people seeing different architectural styles, and being able to position these styles historically, or at least have a sense of design criticism. It is this huge edifice, upon which somehow a design district is born, or is positioned.
The lotus Within the architecture of a dress
INTERVIEW: AHMED SAEDI
It is about this very subtle abstraction that is placed within the architecture of the dresses I design. The way Ancient Egyptian designers did not copy what was around them in nature, but rather used it as invisible architecture built within, to be able to innovate and create their own new visual world, rather than replicate. I think it is about such statements, the statement a simple object can make, through the power of its philosophy and streamlined design.
