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CAPRI: Inside the grandiose Renaissance walls of the 14th century monastery of Certosa di San Giacomo, the works of Egyptian architect and designer Tarek Shamma has been given new life and meaning. 

One of three designers selected as part of Gucci’s Artists in Flux exhibition in Capri, Shamma — whose work includes designs for luxury boats, boutiques for Christian Louboutin and residential structures — presented his MinaMina tables. Unique objects entirely handmade by Shamma in Cairo have a particular tactile quality that resonates from their mix of materials, including faience-glazed ceramic majolica, alabaster, rattan, and travertine stone pillars. 

Shamma, who resides between Cairo and London and who has worked alongside architects Zaha Hadid and David Chipperfield, emphasizes his desire to create objects that “focus on local Egyptian traditions, culture and history — as (a) way to preserve and keep alive their memory and craftsmanship.” 

The tables derive their inspiration from the culture and rich symbolism of ancient Egypt, particularly referencing King Menes, the legendary Egyptian monarch credited with uniting the upper and lower parts of the country into one kingdom. The stools are at once bold and gracious and exude the beauty of materials found and still used in Shamma’s homeland. 

They go even further in their sentimental references, to serve also as a dedication to Shamma’s family from which the name of the stools is derived: Mina, his grandfather from Minya, Egypt, for his ancestral protective energy, and to his sister Yasmin, for her strength, grace and femininity. Yasmin’s nickname is Mina Mina. 

“I am proud of my Egyptian heritage — it’s varied and vast and so rich and through my work I want to keep its memory and tradition alive,” Shamma told Arab News recently. One way this is done is by supporting Egyptian craftsmen which he does through his work and his emphasis on the use of natural, local materials. 

Elsewhere at Nomad Capri, Venice-based gallery, Lo Studio Everything I Want — founded this May by Nadja Romain — displayed Shamma’s “Capriccio Egiziano,” featuring a hand-painted artwork recounting a fictional tale deriving its inspiration from the African nation’s history, by Egyptian writer Yasmin Rashidi.  

Rendered with expressive abstract and figurative portrayals, the work features eyes created in the likeness of renditions of Cleopatra’s eyes by artist Lola Montes Schnabel, the daughter of Julian Schnabel. 

Shamma’s work is mystical and otherworldly, stemming from a desire to requite the past with the present — always in tribute to the ancient historical figures whose imprint can still be found in today’s world.