designed: 2008 by ramzi makram-ebeid

Designed with the purpose of attracting new visitors and generating interest in the broad collections of work, the first Egyptian handicraft booth at Macef encompassed a variety of handicrafts, presented in a uniquely modern Egyptian way.

The graphic work came courtesy of Samdzine’s Hossam Hassan and presents a modern take on Egyptian handicraft artistry. From the typography to the imagery, Hossam did a brilliant job in producing the desired effect. The strict use of black and white for the display areas rendered the booth both modern and served as a suitable backdrop to the main focus: the handicrafts.

The booth is divided into six large displays for individual businesses and a central open space for the dozens of smaller ones. The larger display areas were given branding and have blown up visuals of their products. The display platforms are slightly elevated, clean cut and are ultimately designed to give focus to the products.

Though small in size, each one of the display areas called for its own layout; the Miro marble booth, for example, was designed around their beautiful mantel. For the large number of rugs displayed at Al-Gehad, I had to maximize display space and therefore created extra walls for the numerous rugs and fabric samples to be efficiently perused.