Here’s how the modern collective is working to revive Egypt’s forgotten arts and crafts heritage

“There’s an expression in Egypt that I love,” says French designer, entrepreneur and Egyptophile Louis Barthélemy. “They refer to the country as Um al-Dunya, which is ‘the mother of the world’ – I think it’s a beautiful image,” he smiles. Some say a crisis can be an opportunity, and when Louis found himself in Cairo during last year’s first Covid-19 outbreak, unable to return to his home in Paris, he identified not just an opportunity, but an entire enterprise. With his friend, and now business partner, Laila Neamatalla, he created UDJAT, a fashion and lifestyle brand that combines social enterprise with a celebration of Egyptian craftsmanship and culture.

Laila invited Louis to wait out Egypt’s pandemic-enforced travel restrictions in the oasis of Siwa, where her brother Mounir Neamatalla runs the luxury eco-lodge Adrère Amellal. Enchanted by the laid back pace of Siwa, Louis found his creative juices runneth over. As two weeks turned into five months, he, Laila (who is also a jewellery designer) and an assistant immersed themselves in local textile know-how and ancient Egyptian craft.

“We just started creating stuff. Samples, sculptures, ceramics, all sorts of things without having a very specific collection plan,” says Louis, a creative polymath, whose illustrative textiles have featured in work for Dior, Salvatore Ferragamo and Gucci. “Neither Laila nor myself at that moment knew that we were building a brand. It was just engaging with local people and trying things out. It’s an approach that I like to take whenever I’m in a place that inspires me. It’s just perhaps my way of travelling.”

Striped shirtdresses are teamed with traditional appliqué necklines

In fact, Louis has had a love affair with Egypt for a few years, ever since chancing upon Denis Dailleux’s photography book Mère et Fils, featuring Egyptian bodybuilders with their mothers. Since his first trip to Cairo four years ago, he has been obsessed with the unique iconography, art, architecture, and what he describes as the refinement of the lifestyle.“It’s something that has travelled across territories and centuries, impacting Greek civilisation, the Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire. There are so many references that we may attribute to other nations but in fact, we always go back to Egypt.”


While UDJAT’s fashion silhouettes are relaxed and contemporary, the emphasis is on unique Egyptian textile techniques that Louis and Laila want to develop. Classic striped tomboy shirting, wide galabeyas and boxy blouses are embroidered with innocent pastoral scenes and pharaonic motifs, hand-stitched by local women. The painstaking ‘Khayamiya’ appliqué used on hand-woven shawls is a technique traditionally used to decorate the interiors of tents. And refugees from the Cairene collective Nilfurat are trained and employed to screen- print textile accessories, allowing them to learn a skill and earn a wage.

These empowering benefits of production are a key mission for UDJAT. “These young women often don’t engage in any professional work because they’re busy taking care of the household. This employment allows them to have more independence. Our aim is to train more girls and allow them to emancipate,” explains Louis.
 

Statement jewellery designed by Laila combines hand-carved salt beads, blown glass, bones and amulets in uplifting lapis lazulis and corallines to offset the restful creams and whites of the collection. Home wares are another example of Louis’ ‘refinement of the lifestyle’– curvaceous pots, jugs and vases, handmade and glazed with salt powder from local crushed salt rock. Each piece is beautifully irregular, echoing the Siwa landscape and emphasising the hand-crafted tactility of the work. Louis’ limited-edition sculptures inspired by ancient deities and hand-embroidered pillows stitched by Cairene tent makers join the line-up.“This year we’ve recognised how important it is to have a home; an interior in which we find ourselves comfortable beyond just clothes,” he says.

While the collection will be sold direct to consumers via a new e-commerce site, there is one more piece of the UDJAT puzzle to reveal. Louis has joined forces with Mounir Neamatalla to help with the artistic direction for the restoration of Cairo’s Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. Mounir invited Louis to develop the experiential annexe of the downtown institution, creating a gift shop and café space, scheduled to complete by the end of the year.

From here, the notion of the UDJAT brand, with its own retail space was crystallised. Its goal: to represent local craft and technique and celebrate the ancient heritage of the nation, and its talented workforce of course. This extends to talent scouting the image-makers and models to cement UDJAT’s modern take on heritage. While developing the brand, Louis and Laila combed Instagram for new Egyptian photographers, recruiting a trio including Najla Said to the fold. “I just want to promote and push forward a fresh, youthful Egyptian energy,” concludes Louis.“I love the enthusiasm and human warmth I find in Egyptian people. It’s a very warm nation.”

For more information, visit udjategypt.com. Photography by Najla Said. 

From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s February 2021 issue