(Photo from Earth Murals)
With a mission of “creating a common language of art to be read from all around the globe”, Earth Murals are ethnic designs that encompass different influences and can be applied flexibly to fashion, home accessories and art.
“Our art features many different cultures at once. We never feature one culture purely because we want anyone to be able to relate,” said co-founder Mohamed Aref.
Aref and his partner Hoda Ismail co-founded Earth Murals in 2011 after creating Mazenger graffiti in a public space: “We did it for the street but people liked it and we decided we could continue doing it in the form of murals in places like companies and homes,” he said.
Earth Murals’ beautiful ethnic designs juxtapose different cultures together in an attempt to create a universal art language: “As an Egyptian you might be able to recognise Nubian or Islamic art, but perhaps not Chinese or Indian influences, and so this is what you will take from our art. Someone else will take something different,” said Aref.
Aref said they have an ambitious goal of operating worldwide, and their versatile designs feature murals, home accessories, and a fashion line, which they launched recently. Their fashion and apparel products range from reversible bags to harem pants, colourful scarves and skirts.
As far as how much their murals will set you back, Aref said it depends on several factors, but that they had options for every budget: “It depends on the design and the space. If someone is on a budget and cannot afford a mural, we can make other things work, since we also do interior design. For example, we could work on something smaller, like a chair or a bar.”
Aref said he and Ismail built designs from scratch and remodelled existing furniture. “How it works is that someone will like our designs and will ask ‘what else can you do for me?’ and from there we can start to figure out what they want and what will work from them, be it home accessories or murals. Maybe they can’t afford a mural, but they want to use our designs in other ways. We can use our own fabric on an old chair and give it a different look or we could design our own products, like tables and chair, from scratch,” he said.
You can explore Earth Murals’ contemporary designs at their gallery in the Community Services Association in Maadi as well as on their Facebook page.
