Local Furniture Brand Balkoon Offers Fresh Set-Ups for Your Balcony

One solid glance around the exteriors of residential buildings in any crowded Cairo street will leave you standing stark in the face of one harsh truth— they’re dusty, neglected, ugly. But that wasn’t always the case. It wasn’t until the 80s when Egypt started going abroad for jobs that our once-treasured balconies were closed shut, used as massive open-air dryers, or worst of all— as storage rooms for the mops and brooms. Since then, that nasty aesthetic has reigned supreme, leaving afternoon teatime cramped in our living rooms.

Slowly but surely, Cairenes are flocking to Greater Cairo neighbourhoods like Sheikh Zayed and New Cairo in search of less traffic, green spaces, and extra leg room. And because of that, the interest in balconies has reemerged, or at least that’s what Mohamed Atwa and Marwan Fayed think. The friends co-founded an urban garden design concept called ‘Balkoon’, fashioning ready-made balcony setups and bringing gorgeous interiors right out onto your balcony. One day they were joking about how people would need to grow their own fruits and veggies before COVID-19 brought about the end of the world, and the next they were putting Fayed's interior and product design skills to work to launch their own brand.

The concept merges interior design with ‘yardening’, a social media trend of stuffing every centimetre of your tiny urban yard (aka your balcony) with plants and flowers. The end result is a sexy, fresh aesthetic that makes your small outdoor space come alive. “The balcony is the only space in apartments that connect them to the outside world,” Atwa tells #CairoScene. “You can have your own small urban farm, or a recreational space that helps you tap into your creativity, but we’ve grown so accustomed to mistreating our balconies when they can be so much more.”

They currently have an extensive bamboo boho line featuring furniture, plants, and pots they make locally, and hope to come out with a new steel-themed collection next season.