Where Are the Design Critiques in this Country?

Someone once told me that “there are two types of people in this world: consumers and producers” – Tarik Habib

But I would add designers, the ones who combine both the knowledge of a producer and the sheer pleasure of a consumer, making the relationship work.

“So why do Egyptian upcoming designers intend to piss on next?”

If there is one thing they don’t get in this beloved country, it’s the meaning of design (That’s if they get the meaning of anything at all)

Where are the design critiques in this country?

Design does not have a specific definition; it is a work of art, combining an idea, with a skill, a product, graphics, shapes, color or absence of it, material, finishing, applicability, practicality or lack of it, something new, something made better. It’s about you and about the people seeing it, using it, buying it and loving it. Design has a soul. Design is creative, it’s love, it’s a passion; its thoughts and dreams. It’s a person’s expression. It’s the artist’s character.

Design cannot be judged by personal taste; not in color nor in shape (Although everybody seems to be color blind) no no..

This is not the first time I start writing or rambling and wondering where do we stand on the matter? All these rising young scribblers, rushing to be labeled as creative and developing a designers profile, seems to be the new thing, it’s cool and hip.. Everybody’s artist as a child and somewhere along the way you nurture it, lose yourself in it, or lose it… (Yes we’re losing it)

After a few years of photography bombarding the market (as well as bad music) followed by fashionistas; product design as a whole became the next victim of our atrocious ability to rape an idea.

The Egyptian market is surging with new furniture pieces, stationary designs, illustrated pillows, illustrated pins, illustrated mouse pads and bed sheets and shirts and fashion accessories and shit. With local consumers rushing to buy the nice looking, flashy local products as they are cheaper, much cheaper from 30%-60% less than proper branded imported products, people yet don’t seem to comprehend the purchasing concept of quality over quantity (Least of all in food). Cluttered designs by some trying to combine all bits and pieces of so many originals, ending up in a clusterfuck.

Spray coating and splashing paint on an old piece of furniture, does not make it your personal design, please try to re-invent it, make it better. Gluing pictures off the Internet on a mood board, does not make it your design, it makes you a disgrace to the interior design community (oops)

“A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”-Antoine de Saint-Exupery

And honey, owning a pair of Louboutins and a Berkin, does not enable you to design fashion accessories (Oh do i sound jealous now?)

Let’s see, we have a bunch of stationary designers eh (just two or three)? Take HMD designs for starters, beautifully illustrated coasters, notebooks, bookmarks the whole shabang… that lasted a few days? After a long while, Hani Mahfouz started introducing more artists with various styles to produce his notebooks, hence his products became less redundant, various in color shape and size … my point here?

They last for days in proper condition, before the notebook turns to bits, paper gets detached off the cover, the wire gets crooked, sheets are either too coated, the ink smudges, lines are printed crooked, finishing is bad, quality is non-existent, and the edges are rough.

What’s the point of a cool design concept if it cannot sustain its main purpose as a product or service? (Go buy a nice leather Moleskin.. write your thoughts and pitch in your ideas and show me a sketch), chances are it can last you years.

“A good designer must rely on experience, on precise, logic thinking; and on pedantic exactness. No magic will do.”- Niklaus Wirth

Bah so what about the pillows? I usually shop at “The Crib” in Shittystars (I baptized the famous mall with that name back in 2005 and claim copyrights), a diverse product design shop displaying brands like Invotis, Umbra, pieces by Karim Rashid, pillows from a French brand “La cerise sur le gateau”, simple designs, illustrated designs, all of which are imported… with one thing in common “Quality”. It feels like every product was made with care.

Let’s see..local fashion designers? I am a size zero and I yet have to meet one designer that makes a dress that fits me, a dress that survives one night, a dress where the zipper doesn’t jam or the hem of my skirt rips off, one designer..show me one designer that doesn’t copy anothers work, another brand, or someone’s style..Show me one atelier that uses good fabric and produces a piece with care before selling it for thousands…

It’s practice, like drawing, you copy for practice, you don’t stamp it as your own when it’s a copy..you killed it. You killed the damn dress.

“About half my designs are controlled fantasy, 15 percent are total madness and the rest are bread-and-butter designs.”-Manolo Blahnik

Isn’t it hilarious for instance when we purchase towels from “Zara home” made with Egyptian cotton? How about linens? Bed sheets? (No we don’t know how to treat Egyptian cotton and store it-true story) Can’t we buy one made in Egypt that doesn’t twist or shrink or fade or stain from… nothing? Before you go ahead printing designs on it and disregarding the fact that you will use these sheets for one-nighter?

A consumer’s mind is mostly accustomed to price in this country. It’s the controlling power. If it’s very cheap it’s awesome, and if it’s stupidly expensive for some then it surely might be good.

“Design is not for philosophy it’s for life.”- Issey Miyake

Do you smell the leather? Do you run your fingers over the fabric? Do you inhale the smell of recycled paper? Do you sink enough in your pillows? Do you enjoy the fresh crisp feeling of soft bed sheets? Do you love how your dress wraps around your body and helps you ease out of it after a long night? Do you keep bookmarks as a souvenir? Do you cherish notebooks? (Are you even human?)

If there is only one famous Egyptian designer in all senses of the word today, it would be Azza Fahmy. You want to bitch about a price tag? I’m sorry then don’t purchase gold and gems and semi precious stones and unique designs, finishing and quality. There are scheap replicas at Khan El Khalily, that’s where you should go if your looking for a bargain. If anything, Azza Fahmy’s brand is coaching and teaching young aspiring jewelry designers to offer the same work of art for generations to come…

Try to learn more about materials and production and quality before you go around spamming the rest of us and driving the market into oblivion with regards to design… Or get a job and clear the way for underground artists and designers who really have it in them.

“I design for real people. I think of our customers all the time. There is no virtue whatsoever in creating clothing or accessories that are not practical.”- Giorgio Armani

See? Even Armani makes a point here.

It should be obvious to you by now that design is not skin-deep. It is not the artificial superficial visual perception of an object. If you don’t get it then… stick to numbers and an admin job from 9-5.