Glass Carafe · Cairo · Aqua Blue

Hand-blown glass carafe in light blue tones, featuring a distinctive double-bulb silhouette with a narrow waist and wide pouring rim. Crafted in Egypt's traditional glassmaking workshops, this piece is flecked throughout with tiny bubbles that catch and diffuse light, creating a luminous effect. The elegant form and delicate aqua hue make it perfect for serving water or holding flowers.

The Craft. In small furnaces in Cairo heated to extreme temperatures, master glassblowers employ techniques passed down through generations, gathering molten glass on the end of long iron pipes and breathing life into each piece. To create colour, minerals are added to the molten mixture: cobalt for blue, copper for red, lead for yellow. The tiny bubbles suspended within the glass are signatures of the handmade process, proof that human breath and skill shaped this vessel. Each carafe is shaped entirely by hand, with the glassblower's timing and mastery of fire determining the final form.

The Heritage. Glassmaking in Egypt traces its roots back over 3,500 years to ancient workshops along the Nile, where artisans first discovered the alchemy of transforming sand into shimmering vessels. Glass ingots and tablets unearthed at Tel el-Amarna reveal how central this craft was to royal life under pharaoh Akhenaten. The craft flourished under Roman rule and during the Islamic Golden Age, when Cairo became renowned for its enamelled and gilded glass. Though the tradition faced decline as mass production took hold, today a handful of dedicated workshops keep the flame alive, preserving techniques that connect modern artisans to their ancient predecessors.

The Maker. Khaled Ali is a skilled glassblower working in the tradition of Egyptian glass artisans, where mastery of fire, timing and breath transforms molten material into functional beauty. From his workshop located right across from the masterfully carved dome of the Mosque of Qaytbay in Cairo’s Mamluk Desert district, Khaled continues the legacy of craftsmen who have kept this ancient art form alive through dedication and the patient transfer of knowledge from one generation to the next.