Pyramid selling: A new design dawn rises in Egypt

Cairo – From now on, denial will no longer be an option when considering Egyptian design.

That is because tonight is the first night of the inaugural +20 Egypt Design, the country’s first contemporary design fair. ‘+20 is the telephone code for Egpyt,’ organiser Maurizio Ribotti told LS:N Global in Cairo this morning. ‘It came to me in the shower.’

A half-hour, horn-honking taxi ride from the pyramids of Giza, the exhibition has been organised by Ribotti and the company behind Milan Design Week’s Zona Tortona, Design Partners, and curated by Italian designer Paola Navone. Held in three houses in Cairo’s old city dating from 1648, 1713 and 1881, +20 Egypt Design juxtaposes ancient with modern, established with emerging, and international companies with local designers.

Besides seeing work from Kartell and Poltrona Frau, and the ‘Agape’ bathtub by Patricia Urquiola in this setting, LS:N Global is looking forward to checking out local designers, particularly Cherif Morsi, Alchemy Design Studio and Karassi + Karassi, a contemporary new brand from Egypt’s oldest chair-making company, Meuble El Chark.

LS:N Global will visit the show this evening, and will report back on the most promising designs.