Cup & Vase Reimagines Ancient Egyptian Artistry for the Modern Table

Egyptian tableware has long suffered from a crisis of identity, favouring imported minimalism over local heritage. It is within this cultural disconnect that Adham Aboelenen and Omar Ragab set out to reinvent their homewear brand, Cup & Vase.

The pair met while studying at university in Liverpool and returned to Egypt with what Aboelenen describes as a “shared urge to be creative.” Wanting to contribute something new to the Egyptian homeware market, they launched Cup & Vase with a clean, modern aesthetic.

Yet after two years of operating as a minimalist brand, Aboelenen and Ragab began to rethink their direction. “We started out with modern branding and a modern product design, but now we have started shifting towards a cultural and heritage-related branding. If we’re going to do this, we said, we will honour the Egyptian roots these practices came from, not stick to the style we had before,” Aboelenen tells SceneHome.

This shift is fully realised in the launch of their newest collection, ‘Hekayat El Wadi’ (Stories of the Valley), which marks the brand’s turning point visually and structurally. Rather than looking to the present or future for inspiration, the pair turned to Egypt's past.

While predominantly selling glassware, Cup & Vase also sells plates, pottery and table linens. For Aboelenen, these materials naturally lend themselves to Egyptian heritage. “Glass making and pottery are both so Egyptian. They’ve existed in the roots of all Egypt for decades and decades, and that has been forgotten over the years,” Aboelenen remarks. Their new collection aims to reconnect these everyday objects with their origins.

Both founders design the products themselves, drawing inspiration from elements of Egyptian life, landscape and history. The ever-burning Egyptian sun can be found in their ‘Sun Plate’, while the historic lotus flower comes alive in the glass of their ‘Lotus Vase’. “We wanted to take materials that you see on a daily basis, and make something that catches your eye - something extraordinary,” Aboelenen says.

The pair lean on a long-standing lineage of artisans to bring their products to life; a lineage of nation and of kin. “Linens are hand embroidered, the glass is hand-blown and all the pottery is handmade,” says Aboelenen. Their lead craftsman, Sammy, has been working with Ragab’s family for over 25 years and has trained many other craftsmen in glasswork.

The visual language of the collection also draws directly from Egypt’s ancient artistic traditions. In fact, the patterns on the table linens “came directly from drawings on the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs and temples,” Aboelenen says with a smile. “We're going back to our roots,” he continues. “I think we're more proud of our roots now, and everything that we’ve made throughout history. We're reclaiming everything about the ancient Egyptians, how big and amazing our culture and history was and is.”

This sense of rediscovering heritage is part of a broader cultural moment in Egypt today. Across different creative industries, there is a renewed pride in the country’s ancient past. Cup & Vase’s new creative direction reflects this wider resurgence. Their latest promotional video feels a bit like a fever dream of the Old Kingdom. Directed by Nour Chalabi and filmed by Hazem Zaid, the video features a ‘surreal Egyptian universe’ that feels oddly familiar, but completely new. In their visuals, the boundaries between history and modernity blur: a duck becomes a headpiece; the sun becomes a crown.

This rebranding evokes an ancient visual language that can now be told on your dining table. For Aboelenen and Ragab, tableware is not simply decorative but symbolic. “Dining is imagined as ritual rather than routine,” Aboelenen says. “It becomes an act of intention and presence. Plates and vessels are not passive objects but ceremonial tools.”

This philosophy lies at the heart of Cup & Vase’s vision: their designs encourage people to slow down, reflect, and approach everyday rituals with more awareness. Their ‘Sun Plate’ catches warmth, while their ‘Salsabil Cup’ is so unique in its design that it forces you to pause between sips and admire its form. As Aboelenen puts it, the aim is to “elevate the everyday into something meaningful, sacred and ceremonial.”

For now, the founders are focused on continuing to explore and expand upon Egypt’s rich visual heritage. In future collections - along with other Egyptian themes and time periods - they would like to create collections inspired by other regional cultures, such as Morocco.

For Cup & Vase, however, this will always be a journey that begins at home. Their return to tradition - and the desire to honour Egypt’s artistic legacy - is what ultimately empowers the brand. As Aboelenen says proudly: “We really want to flaunt it to the whole world, this is Egypt.”