Atop Malaika’s hand-printed Carnation place mat and flanked by their delicately embroidered Julia napkin rests a new pottery plate produced for the brand by artisans in the village of Tunis in Fayoum.
“From the outset, we were determined to create a business model with social impact,” notes Goya Gallagher, who alongside Margarita Andrade, co-founded Malaika—their Cairo-based atelier championing traditional Egyptian crafts.
At launch, the company covered embroidery tuition for local women, but the mission expanded with their retail success. In 2018, the pair opened Threads Of Hope, a free-trade school, which trains community members for Malaika employment. In both motif and materiality, the brand’s offerings—from silk-screened place mats to intricately stitched napkins and handmade pottery—celebrate the abundance of Egypt’s natural and cultural history.
Ultimately, they hope this cycle of preserving heritage craft extends beyond the hands that create, down to the consumer. Notes Gallagher, “every piece in our collection has been carefully designed as a timeless family heirloom to pass on for generations to come.”
