CEO · MANAGING PRINCIPAL
01 — LEADERSHIP
Karim
El Assal
Twenty years in, the first question on a project is still the same one. What is this space actually for?
IN HIS WORDS
On F&B being the hardest brief to get right
A restaurant tells you within a week whether you got it right. You watch which tables people choose, and where the staff start improvising around your plan. That is the review. Renders are no help at that point.
On drawing everything
If we do not draw it, someone decides it later and usually in a hurry. So we draw it. The early stage takes longer and the rest of the job is calmer.
On working in Cairo
Cairo hands you conditions nobody would have invented. Hard light. Dust. Heat that decides when a terrace is usable and when it is not. Buildings that ignore all that end up looking imported.
LEADS
Design direction across the studio. Concept, interiors and the F&B portfolio.
AT SEGMENTS SINCE
2008 — co-founded the studio.
SELECTED WORK — SEE THE PORTFOLIO →