Choosing local, creating local, living local is what the world is calling for at the moment.

How can we significantly integrate and utilize local materials within the orbit of industrial and product design? Working towards a more sustainable way of life as a human race. 

We are a generation that has advocated for sustainability. For building brands from what we have at our fingertips, for searching for materials and being resourceful. 

As Egyptians we are sitting on a gold mine - a plethora of raw materials that have yet to be tapped into and optimized by our people.

These materials include copper, bamboo, rattan, reed, linen, clay, silver, clem, alabaster, and cotton - the list goes on. 

“It is the highest form of culture and craftsmanship in art to use local materials. That way you stand a chance of adding to culture. Otherwise, you are in danger of bleak and wasteful imitation,” Miles Franklin said on the matter of creating from your country’s bank of natural resources. 

It’s time to roll up our sleeves and design, create, produce and reproduce - locally. To empower the movement of locally made products, specifically by younger generations, of Millennials like myself and Gen Z after. We will play a vital role in consciously studying, advocating for and developing designs for innovative products, which the market can then integrate into the local production spectrum.

As an industrial and product designer based in Cairo, this is the essence of my work. 

Experimenting with clay and the art of pottery is a favorite of mine for example, I’ve worked with this material several times in lighting and tableware design. It’s overwhelming how one material has limitless potential, contrasting moods, textures, and impacts. 

Material experimentation is key. Each project goes through a series of trials, testing potential and limitations, craft techniques, and production processes. 

In the realm of fashion, working with cutting-edge local brands such as OKHTEIN and Hayden has been a major learning experience in terms of exposure and expertise. I challenged myself. Both opportunities aided in elevating my skills of product development, time management, material exploration, technicalities, and how to tie in branding.

As a product designer I encourage creatives to incorporate local materials into their designs; this adds value, character, uniqueness, sustainability, and longevity. Let us invest in executing product concepts that our society is looking for and actually needs.

Let’s impress ourselves with our capabilities that are beyond measure, and show the world how locally designed products can be key elements in evoking the symbolism and richness of our prominent Egyptian culture. 

Let us go back to being raw, radical and produce and reproduce in a way that is finally sustainable.