Friday March 29th, 2024
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Mi Light and Shining

Mi Lighting by Mohamed Atef is a brand that boasts artistic value without losing any functionality, featuring decorative lighting fixtures that are made out of everything from unused drainage pipes to kitchen utensils…

Staff Writer

These charming lamps pictured above are the brainchildren of 31-year-old Alexandrian Mohamed Atef, whose brand Mi Lighting was essentially created from a light-bulb-over-the-head eureka moment in the bathroom.

"I had the idea for Mi Lighting after seeing plenty of unused sanitary pipes, and because I have experience with "Mikano" since I was a child I started to create some concepts using the both materials," Atef explains. "When I made the first lighting units my friends were amazed."

After extensive research into re-usable materials for decoration, he set out to make a fixture that represented the human figure, landing on the 'Brutta' lamps which have been designed in customized colours, as football players or even superheroes...

All of his designs are made from an amalgamation of recycled parts that give them this glowing kitsch vibe. "At the beginning I was searching for materials at souq el gomaa, where you can find plenty of affordable items and get some good ideas, and after a while I started to deal with merchants to supply me with brand new materials. I then found myself using everything from car parts to motorcycles and bicycles. The next step was using kitchen tools to make a decorative lighting units for kitchens, such as teapot, spoons, forks , etc.."

Inspired by the works of Karim Rashad and Zaha Hadid, Atef is beginning to make a name for himself, and recently did a collaboration with VIA Studio Paris. In this day and age consumers are becoming more privy to the correlation between art and functionality, and that something useful can also look pretty damn cool, and Atef sees the same importance in creating works that make sense to the average person to buy, especially as his products' prices start at around only 80 LE.

"I think it's very important for the art to be functional because there are a lot of tastes to be satisfied and especially in the decoration world it has to be both functional and tasteful."

You can shop the collection through their Facebook page here or visit Studio Zafir, Wanas or Sobha