Shahira Fahmy Brings Egyptian Faience to Design Doha 2026

Ancient Egyptians developed faience more than 4,000 years ago, a quartz-based, non-clay ceramic material known for its bright blue and green surfaces. It appeared in jewellery, amulets, decorative objects and architectural details.

Shahira Fahmy Architects (SFA) brings that material into contemporary architecture at Design Doha Biennial 2026 through a habitable installation exploring its physical qualities and cultural significance.

Titled 'Tjehenet', an ancient Egyptian word meaning 'brilliant' or 'dazzling', the installation appears in 'Arab Design Now', the Biennial's headline exhibition curated by Noura Al Sayeh.

SFA draws on faience's historical associations with eternity and protection. The structure takes its form from the ancient Egyptian Usekh collar, a broad ornamental necklace worn around the neck, translating its enclosing shape into an architectural space visitors can enter.

"While we remain agnostic to the mysticism of the time, as architects, we believe in the power of material expression and its capacity to transport us to a space and time beyond the immediate," Shahira Fahmy said.

Egyptian faience was made primarily from silica, alkali and lime, with copper compounds commonly used to produce its blue-green colour. Plant ash could provide part of its alkali content.

Those raw materials form the basis of 'In the Body of the Land', a photography series by Najla Said commissioned by Fahmy to accompany the installation.

Said travelled across Egypt tracing silica, copper and ash through the landscapes they come from and the practices in which they continue to appear, including silica in traditional glassblowing and plant ash used as fertiliser.

The project brought together specialists and craftspeople across Egypt, Lebanon and Turkey. SFA worked with Ashgan Makram in Cairo and Syma Porcelain in Beirut, while Gorbon Ceramics in Istanbul produced the installation.

'Tjehenet' forms part of the second Design Doha Biennial, which opened on November 5 and runs until January 31, 2027. '

Arab Design Now' brings together 81 designers, with 78 new commissions and 16 films documenting the people, processes and places behind the work.