> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.at-media-group.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # My conversation with Alchemy’s Karim Mekhtigian & Mohamed Fares - URL: https://www.at-media-group.com/what-i-did-next/karim-mekhtigian-mohamed-fares-alchemy/ - Published: 2026-08-11T10:22:12.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-14T07:09:59.000Z - Author: Malak Fouad - Tags: What I Did Next, Business, Podcasters, UAE SPONSOR [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/76/c3/76c3534d-f5bc-4022-826e-e0a2930ce71a/content/images/2025/05/IMG_2097.jpeg)](https://app.efghermesone.com/?ref=at-media-group.com) This episode is brought to you by EFG Hermes One, your one app for investing in more than 35 stock markets worldwide. [Start Investing Today ](https://app.efghermesone.com/?ref=at-media-group.com) This week, I’m sitting down with Karim Mekhtigian and Mohamed Fares, two of the visionary architects behind Cairo’s premier design firm, *Alchemy*, alongside Emy Hussein. Together, they have spent years shaping the architectural landscape in Egypt, setting new standards of quality, style and craftsmanship. In the first of two episodes, we talk about how they each came to architecture and design, and then joined forces to create a partnership that spans two decades. Our conversation took place at *Tamara Haus*, a new destination by Alchemy Experience, in the heart of Downtown Cairo. On part two next week, Karim & Fares tell me about their design philosophy, and how they built a brand that became a movement. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, I’d love to [hear from you](#ghost-comments). You can also leave us a comment on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or on Instagram. ```chapters 00:00 - On this episode 01:41 - Karim’s cosmopolitan childhood 03:46 - Fares’ sporting upbringing 12:01 - Meeting of minds 17:14 - Drawing by hand vs AI 22:34 - Building Alchemy 27:38 - Lightning Round ``` ```vtt WEBVTT 00:00:00.018 --> 00:00:04.188 How have you kept your partnership? It's a marriage. You've been in a marriage 00:00:04.188 --> 00:00:06.269 for 25 years, nearly 30 years. 00:00:06.647 --> 00:00:09.948 You have to be tolerant of each other. We don't see each other much and we don't 00:00:09.948 --> 00:00:13.270 talk to each other. AI has information. 00:00:13.787 --> 00:00:14.158 Yes. 00:00:14.344 --> 00:00:15.528 But doesn't have the knowledge. 00:00:15.528 --> 00:00:21.818 The prompts that you are feeding the AI with comes with your knowledge and your background. 00:00:22.158 --> 00:00:27.138 I think at that moment, we introduced the grey color in Egypt. Egypt was all in beige. 00:00:27.138 --> 00:00:31.708 This episode is brought to you by EFG Hermes One, your one app for investing in 00:00:31.708 --> 00:00:35.818 more than 35 stock markets worldwide. Hey everyone, welcome back to What I Did 00:00:35.818 --> 00:00:38.685 Next from A&T Media. I'm Malak Fouad, your host. 00:00:38.818 --> 00:00:42.988 Today I'm joined by Karim Mekhtigian and Mohamed Fares, both architects who 00:00:42.988 --> 00:00:46.527 run Alchemy, one of Egypt's premier architecture firms. 00:00:46.696 --> 00:00:50.458 The interview was conducted at Tamara Haus, their latest venture under the 00:00:50.458 --> 00:00:52.443 brand name Alchemy Experience. 00:00:52.611 --> 00:00:56.825 Together, Karim and Fares have shaped the look of architecture in Egypt, 00:00:57.156 --> 00:01:02.758 shepherding in modern, clean lines where traditionally Aubusson and Opaline dominated. 00:01:03.118 --> 00:01:08.546 Today, the Alchemy name is synonymous with quality, high standards and exceptional style. 00:01:08.842 --> 00:01:12.638 I've known Karim and Fares for over 20 years and I've always watched them with 00:01:12.638 --> 00:01:16.928 admiration and curiosity as to how their style and their friendship and their 00:01:16.928 --> 00:01:18.995 partnership has evolved over the years. 00:01:19.296 --> 00:01:22.733 This interview was conducted in a mix of English and Arabic, 00:01:23.087 --> 00:01:25.566 so be sure to adjust your subtitles accordingly. 00:01:25.827 --> 00:01:29.705 Karim, I want to start with you. You're older. 00:01:30.517 --> 00:01:37.898 You come from a different, I want to say not mentality, but a different epoch, actually. 00:01:38.238 --> 00:01:41.167 Your heritage in Egypt is very different to Fares'. 00:01:41.847 --> 00:01:45.148 Tell me a little bit about your personal background. You're from an Armenian 00:01:45.148 --> 00:01:48.378 family, from a very old family, in Downtown Cairo 00:01:48.778 --> 00:01:49.758 I come from, yes, I'm born in Dhaher 00:01:52.878 --> 00:01:57.918 beside downtown, from Armenian family, but... 00:02:01.025 --> 00:02:05.345 in a neighborhood which was like really extremely cosmopolitan. There was a mix of different people. Our building had Armenians, Christians, Muslims 00:02:15.705 --> 00:02:22.505 There was a Jewish family, there was a Greek family, parts from the Armenian families, etc. 00:02:22.985 --> 00:02:25.155 It was a very big melting pot, Cairo, right? 00:02:25.165 --> 00:02:33.065 It was a melting pot. It was the end of the melting pot. Yes, more or less. Yes. But 00:02:35.365 --> 00:02:42.078 this diversity of different cultures, I think, made a lot, and it formed me. 00:02:42.362 --> 00:02:47.225 I think, you know, it makes you a tolerant person. It makes you open to the world. 00:02:47.425 --> 00:02:54.025 It makes you flexible, tolerant. You understand people easily. 00:02:54.745 --> 00:02:57.975 And your family worked in industrial lighting? 00:02:57.975 --> 00:03:04.038 No, my family, it was like we all lived together. It was like also another, 00:03:04.166 --> 00:03:07.615 I mean, my uncles used to live in the same house. My father, 00:03:07.615 --> 00:03:10.685 my mother, my grandmother, et cetera. 00:03:11.132 --> 00:03:18.005 And I had like, my father was a mechanical engineer and worked in the metal 00:03:20.125 --> 00:03:26.355 factory. And my uncle was an architect and the other one was a 00:03:26.355 --> 00:03:29.785 movie producer. So I had... 00:03:31.125 --> 00:03:32.445 You had a mix of different worlds. 00:03:32.465 --> 00:03:38.145 I had a mix and everyone was like trying to tell me to be like him. 00:03:40.701 --> 00:03:46.465 So at the end, I decided to be like no one and leave. 00:03:46.985 --> 00:03:52.215 And you, Fares, what is your childhood? What is your background in terms of 00:03:52.215 --> 00:03:55.335 the pre-alchemy, pre.. what we know of you? 00:03:55.462 --> 00:03:57.895 I grew up in a very Egyptian family. 00:03:58.696 --> 00:03:59.365 I used to go, 00:04:01.947 --> 00:04:04.945 to do sports every day. I was a water polo player. 00:04:04.945 --> 00:04:05.695 Were you? 00:04:05.695 --> 00:04:10.705 Yeah. I didn't know that. In the Ahli club. It is very hard. Yeah, yeah. I started by swimming first. 00:04:11.201 --> 00:04:17.475 And then I joined the club when I was six years old. My childhood was like... 00:04:18.096 --> 00:04:19.048 You lived in the water. 00:04:19.251 --> 00:04:22.241 Yes. I wake up in the morning at 6 a.m. 00:04:22.654 --> 00:04:29.885 My mother would prepare my breakfast every day. And then I go, train 00:04:29.885 --> 00:04:31.755 Wow, that says a lot actually. You learn to 00:04:31.755 --> 00:04:38.115 discipline. Yes. It's a lot. It teaches you the right way. It's a lot. And this was like 15 years of 00:04:38.115 --> 00:04:40.185 my life. 15 years. Then, then, 00:04:41.205 --> 00:04:47.741 I was in the national team around when I was 16 years old. I had no idea. What,Fares? Yes 00:04:47.933 --> 00:04:53.180 yes. That's a big deal. I went to High school, of course. 00:04:53.418 --> 00:04:54.735 Yeah and then everything changed 00:04:54.735 --> 00:04:58.745 Yes, I went to High school. I wanted to do, 00:04:59.865 --> 00:05:07.675 IGSE at that time. My dad told me, no. You have to go to this kind of, you know 00:05:07.675 --> 00:05:12.805 high school practice, all this kind of Egyptian things in everything and the education. 00:05:12.805 --> 00:05:13.395 High school is much harder 00:05:13.395 --> 00:05:19.395 Yeah. Much harder. After this, and then I got a very good score 00:05:19.395 --> 00:05:22.325 that could get me into medicine or engineering. 00:05:23.749 --> 00:05:29.327 And you started with medicine. No, you didn't start. My father wanted, him and brother wanted me to get into engineering. And I didn't want to get into engineering because the brother was a doctor 00:05:31.105 --> 00:05:32.653 I was like, 00:05:34.185 --> 00:05:37.697 I'm seeing him, okay, I'd like to be a doctor. 00:05:38.905 --> 00:05:44.249 I didn't go college for two months, two months, I didn't go to college. I didn't go. 00:05:44.249 --> 00:05:45.389 You got very turned off. Yes. 00:05:45.949 --> 00:05:50.189 In the mid-term of faculty of engineering, I was a very good student in the school, 00:05:50.189 --> 00:05:54.671 I was very good in everything. Academically good. I never failed. 00:05:55.182 --> 00:06:04.589 And then, in engineering college, I finished the first term, and I failed in one subject. And this was... 00:06:06.189 --> 00:06:07.369 Very depressing, of course. 00:06:07.369 --> 00:06:11.384 Very depressing. I wasn't attending. And what did your father say? 00:06:12.307 --> 00:06:16.189 No, my father... Of course. 00:06:16.189 --> 00:06:20.409 to us, we as a family, there's nothing called a not passing or a failure. 00:06:20.409 --> 00:06:26.129 Or something, it's impossible. I mean, throughout the journey, even with my father 00:06:26.129 --> 00:06:28.722 and all my siblings, we were very successful, alhamdulillah. 00:06:28.867 --> 00:06:35.889 And how did you make the change, between from the doctor, wanting to be a doctor, to moving into... 00:06:35.889 --> 00:06:38.916 I started to believe that this is God's plan. 00:06:39.212 --> 00:06:46.369 Okay. Did you have as a child an interest in architecture, in art, in creativity? 00:06:46.369 --> 00:06:49.589 Yes, art and fashion and photography. It was always there. 00:06:49.589 --> 00:06:54.868 Yes. And for you, Ya Karim, how did the spark of architecture come? 00:06:55.053 --> 00:06:57.029 I wasn't supposed to do architecture. 00:06:57.569 --> 00:07:01.445 You had lived in Paris for many years. Yes. And you went to Paris at what age? 00:07:01.886 --> 00:07:02.729 I was 17. 00:07:02.729 --> 00:07:04.369 And your family were fine with that? 00:07:04.369 --> 00:07:04.667 No. 00:07:04.893 --> 00:07:05.499 They were not? 00:07:05.499 --> 00:07:06.389 No, they were against it. 00:07:06.389 --> 00:07:07.269 You fought for that. 00:07:07.269 --> 00:07:15.529 Yes, I fought. My father threw me out and I had to go and work and to make, to find the money for my 00:07:15.529 --> 00:07:17.929 ticket. That's a big deal. And then I have done it. 00:07:18.549 --> 00:07:19.409 Wait, wait, wait, wait. 00:07:19.409 --> 00:07:19.789 This is important. 00:07:20.469 --> 00:07:21.547 This is important. 00:07:21.652 --> 00:07:25.018 What? So you left home because you wanted to leave and he didn't want you to leave. 00:07:25.198 --> 00:07:25.714 Yeah. 00:07:26.556 --> 00:07:27.595 But you still did it. 00:07:27.874 --> 00:07:32.388 I did it, yes. I was a bit rebellious person when I was a kid. 00:07:32.398 --> 00:07:34.178 But how did he accept it in the end? 00:07:34.416 --> 00:07:41.358 He accepted after 25 years. What? I mean, he wasn't convinced that he wasn't 00:07:41.358 --> 00:07:45.184 convinced. And I was like, I had no choice. I had to go and I had to prove. 00:07:45.509 --> 00:07:49.898 When I went to Paris, I didn't know one word in French. And it was like, my education was Armenian. 00:07:49.898 --> 00:07:52.458 But even when I met him after 25 years, his father wasn't convinced with what we were doing. 00:07:52.458 --> 00:07:53.363 Yes, yes. 00:07:53.619 --> 00:07:54.958 And the first time. 00:07:54.958 --> 00:08:04.958 The first time he told me, I think you have done something right, I was 45. 00:08:04.958 --> 00:08:05.298 No, Karim. 00:08:05.458 --> 00:08:06.798 Yeah, I was 45. 00:08:06.798 --> 00:08:07.218 How did that feel? 00:08:07.438 --> 00:08:08.068 I said, wow. 00:08:08.068 --> 00:08:08.932 How did that feel? 00:08:09.124 --> 00:08:13.727 Yeah, I told him, 45 years. It's been like 25 years I'm waiting for it. Wow. 00:08:14.006 --> 00:08:14.708 As your mother 00:08:14.708 --> 00:08:17.618 presumably was behind you all the way from the beginning. No, 00:08:17.618 --> 00:08:19.838 my mother was very emotional and she was trying to find.. 00:08:19.838 --> 00:08:23.617 But this is very difficult. Yeah, and you're obviously a risk-taker. 00:08:24.498 --> 00:08:28.718 you went against what they wanted, you did what you wanted. You must have had 00:08:28.718 --> 00:08:32.108 a strong belief in what you were doing and it's not easy to do 00:08:32.108 --> 00:08:36.808 something like that. I believed that, without knowing what exactly, but at that 00:08:36.808 --> 00:08:40.701 time, I believed that there is something that I have to do. I came to this world 00:08:41.165 --> 00:08:46.118 and there is something that.. I have a message or there is something, I don't know but I need to find it 00:08:46.947 --> 00:08:54.563 and I will work for it and to be able to communicate or to be able to give your message 00:08:55.898 --> 00:09:00.878 I was convinced 100% that I have to be extremely skillful in a lot of things 00:09:01.814 --> 00:09:03.448 whatever I'm doing. You know Karim 00:09:03.448 --> 00:09:09.128 though, there are so many people that we know around us in every kind of industry 00:09:09.923 --> 00:09:16.061 who follow a conventional route. They either inherit a family business or they 00:09:16.061 --> 00:09:19.819 are expected to be a doctor and they do it and they're miserable. 00:09:19.965 --> 00:09:24.361 I inherited everything from my family also. Apart from that, 00:09:24.361 --> 00:09:30.151 I was like, we were against each other and not believing in me, etc. 00:09:30.691 --> 00:09:34.918 But I inherited it. My uncle was a film producer. I learned from him a lot. 00:09:35.951 --> 00:09:42.091 I used to be in the studios. I was an extremely curious guy. 00:09:42.091 --> 00:09:45.811 And from a young age, you felt that creativity 00:09:45.811 --> 00:09:48.676 was your area. Yes, there is something big that I have to do. 00:09:49.407 --> 00:09:54.471 And my father, he was an engineer. I was going and working at his workshop, etc. 00:09:55.111 --> 00:09:59.511 I learned from him. My other uncle was an architect. I inherited a lot. 00:09:59.891 --> 00:10:05.331 I mean, without falling into the standard. 00:10:06.691 --> 00:10:12.641 I believe that everyone and I believe, not me, everyone has his own way 00:10:12.641 --> 00:10:17.021 to become here in this world, we have something, we have something, everyone has 00:10:17.021 --> 00:10:20.761 something to do and something to fulfill, etc. 00:10:20.761 --> 00:10:21.641 And everyone has a purpose 00:10:21.786 --> 00:10:27.111 And everyone has a purpose but you have to fight for it, I mean.. 00:10:27.111 --> 00:10:30.731 And when you went to Paris, how did you know what area you wanted to study? 00:10:31.231 --> 00:10:34.751 In France, you have a system when you are in the art, artistic 00:10:36.831 --> 00:10:42.650 field, they put you in a general academy, art academy. 00:10:43.062 --> 00:10:49.511 In this academy, you have to stay for two years and they give you all the basics 00:10:49.511 --> 00:10:54.701 of art, history, cinema, painting, photography, whatever. 00:10:54.701 --> 00:10:55.606 And then you specialize. 00:10:55.792 --> 00:10:59.426 So I learned, I saw, I had the choice and... 00:11:00.227 --> 00:11:05.852 Fortunately, I was accepted in a higher school, École Supérieure, 00:11:07.611 --> 00:11:12.226 which had cinema, architecture, design, and everything. 00:11:12.226 --> 00:11:16.526 When I think of the two of you, I don't just think of you as architects. 00:11:16.526 --> 00:11:19.603 I think of you as wearing many hats. 00:11:19.980 --> 00:11:25.286 Being creative doesn't narrow you into a field. You can't. You're a photographer. 00:11:25.739 --> 00:11:29.376 I've been to your exhibitions. I studied filmmaking in the New York Film Academy. 00:11:29.376 --> 00:11:33.715 And you, Karim, also, there's a creative director element to both of you. 00:11:33.924 --> 00:11:37.466 You know, at the end, you have a message. Yeah. And you have to communicate 00:11:37.466 --> 00:11:41.356 and you have to do it. And you have to know how to... 00:11:42.436 --> 00:11:44.896 You do it through photography, through architecture, through... 00:11:44.916 --> 00:11:48.518 Now, for example, we created a company which is Alchemy Experience. 00:11:48.837 --> 00:11:54.340 It's a holistic ecosystem of all what we know and all what we have done together 00:11:54.996 --> 00:11:59.386 throughout the years. So we said, okay, this is like, let's create this ecosystem, 00:11:59.386 --> 00:12:01.886 which it's the whole experience all together. 00:12:01.886 --> 00:12:07.819 Let's talk about your partnership. So you talked about Karim as being your mentor. Yeah. 00:12:09.276 --> 00:12:13.067 I love this. And I love that in your head, that's still how you think of it. 00:12:13.449 --> 00:12:14.996 Of course. I will always... 00:12:15.136 --> 00:12:16.862 So much has, you know... 00:12:17.016 --> 00:12:18.746 I don't see how it's all. 00:12:18.746 --> 00:12:19.096 What do you see? 00:12:20.776 --> 00:12:26.416 No, I don't think so that I am the mentor. No, because I also leanred a lot of things. How 00:12:26.416 --> 00:12:28.576 did you meet? How did you meet? 00:12:29.856 --> 00:12:35.456 I'll tell you. He will tell you a big chunk of the story. Surely, there are two versions of it. But anyways, 00:12:38.445 --> 00:12:45.856 After I finished my university, I was doing Masters. And then I did an 00:12:45.856 --> 00:12:52.603 article in Bait Magazine and I was doing A study on all the rooftops to be green. Okay, 00:12:54.106 --> 00:13:01.973 And Karim was.. in the same edition, Karim had come back from Paris and he was doing 00:13:02.343 --> 00:13:06.895 an article on the lighting and Alchemy and everything. So Alchemy existed? 00:13:06.895 --> 00:13:10.995 Yes, yes, Alchemy existed. I didn't know this. Alchemy Design Studio. 00:13:12.195 --> 00:13:14.962 It existed. You created the company in '98 00:13:16.355 --> 00:13:20.735 Yes And when I met Karim, a friend of ours said that Karim wants 00:13:20.735 --> 00:13:23.335 someone to help him with projects. 00:13:25.335 --> 00:13:28.204 And I met Karim, and the rest is history. 00:13:28.564 --> 00:13:29.744 Karim, your version. 00:13:30.184 --> 00:13:31.593 What's your version? 00:13:33.044 --> 00:13:37.857 No, I needed a help. I needed someone, etc. So I told this girl, 00:13:38.397 --> 00:13:40.494 do you know someone? I don't know anything. 00:13:40.494 --> 00:13:41.964 You had just come back 00:13:41.964 --> 00:13:43.064 I had just come back 00:13:43.484 --> 00:13:45.537 This was end of 2001-2002. 00:13:48.284 --> 00:13:49.664 Okay. This is when I moved to Cairo. It was exactly at the same time. 00:13:49.664 --> 00:13:53.544 And I still had my office in Paris. I used to go, 00:13:53.844 --> 00:13:55.564 do things, and then come and do things. 00:13:55.564 --> 00:13:59.744 And then I said, I need someone to help, a designer or whatever. 00:13:59.744 --> 00:14:02.604 She said, I will send you, I will send you a friend of mine. He's good. 00:14:02.604 --> 00:14:07.851 In the office at the time, we were three people. 00:14:08.467 --> 00:14:12.814 There was one secretary and one 00:14:12.824 --> 00:14:18.647 he was like designing on AutoCAD and me, that's all. 00:14:19.309 --> 00:14:24.834 So Faris came in for an interview. You were really young at the time. 00:14:24.834 --> 00:14:31.664 I met Karim, Karim was 38 or 37 years old more or less when I was like 22, 23. 00:14:31.664 --> 00:14:34.884 You were still a fresh graduate from university. 00:14:34.884 --> 00:14:39.844 Yes, so he entered and looked around, very sure of 00:14:41.432 --> 00:14:46.754 myself. There was a lamp Flipp Stark and he said, this is Flipp Stark. He 00:14:46.754 --> 00:14:53.524 has an eye, he knows. So I'm telling him what he'll do and what we do and I'm explaining 00:14:53.524 --> 00:14:56.130 and then he says, but where will I park my car? 00:14:57.117 --> 00:14:58.182 We are in the Downtown Cairo 00:14:58.182 --> 00:14:59.445 straight to the technicalities 00:15:00.062 --> 00:15:04.922 and I'm doing my Masters. I'm not free. Who's interviewing who? 00:15:06.742 --> 00:15:12.852 Who's in charge here? I actually, for me, I'm coming from France And there's 00:15:12.852 --> 00:15:20.342 no one who does an interview in that way. And I'm in my mind, I said, this is not going to work 00:15:22.662 --> 00:15:26.988 You put a line under him. So, we got done and I told him to 00:15:27.638 --> 00:15:31.422 see and let me know. The next day, he came in, all prepared and started working. 00:15:31.422 --> 00:15:33.182 No, no, no, I love it 00:15:33.742 --> 00:15:39.028 And then, I mean, we took a project. At that time, I was working with some Americans like, 00:15:39.637 --> 00:15:44.397 we didn't know if we will get the project or not, then we took it. So I said to him, we have a project big, 00:15:45.032 --> 00:15:48.977 very big, and I don't know if we will be able to do it 00:15:50.336 --> 00:15:53.691 He entered and then brought other colleagues 00:15:53.691 --> 00:15:55.381 And you grew quickly 00:15:55.381 --> 00:15:56.761 No, no, we were at the beginning, still 00:15:56.761 --> 00:15:57.601 Still 00:15:57.601 --> 00:16:06.751 At the time, the thing was that we took the project and it was a Petroleum company. 00:16:06.751 --> 00:16:10.201 Egyptian Petroleum, American Petroleum, American-Egyptian Company. We did a presentation 00:16:11.201 --> 00:16:13.811 And it was a commercial project? 00:16:13.811 --> 00:16:17.881 It's like offices Okay Headquarters, Headquarters, 6,000 meters, 00:16:17.881 --> 00:16:21.293 biggest ever project. We did at that time, 6000 meters, 00:16:21.921 --> 00:16:27.061 Huge. At that time, We didn't have computers I remember Karim 00:16:27.061 --> 00:16:30.401 I had a room And this room, I laid out the drawing board. 00:16:31.201 --> 00:16:36.141 very old school. Old school. Until now, even with the engineers, I tell them, guys 00:16:36.141 --> 00:16:42.441 if you don't have a pen next to them or paper to sketch, 00:16:42.441 --> 00:16:43.415 This doesn't work. You can't be an engineer 00:16:45.145 --> 00:16:51.542 At that time, the drawing board, I worked on a big square, 20-80 meters, 00:16:52.477 --> 00:16:56.941 And we did the presentation. Karim was working on a computer presentation for 00:16:56.941 --> 00:17:01.741 the look and feel. And I start to design the whole plans And the whole spaces 00:17:01.741 --> 00:17:04.441 on paper. And if I made a mistake 00:17:04.841 --> 00:17:07.291 I'll go again. It used to be like that 00:17:07.291 --> 00:17:08.241 I'll get another, 00:17:11.001 --> 00:17:11.591 I'll go again.Of course. I remember. 00:17:13.210 --> 00:17:17.381 And tell me Faris, why is it important today? Why is it something you still 00:17:17.381 --> 00:17:19.781 want your young people to have? 00:17:20.124 --> 00:17:25.981 Because it's not virtual. When you put the whole project in front of you... Even when you write, 00:17:26.081 --> 00:17:28.761 You memorize. Yes, it's true. When you write, you memorize. It's true. 00:17:29.081 --> 00:17:32.201 When you touch it, when you have a line, you will memorize the line. 00:17:32.201 --> 00:17:37.091 You don't see the project in a screen. That's right. You see a part of the project. That's true. 00:17:37.091 --> 00:17:40.598 Until now, Malak, any person who sends me from the engineers, 00:17:41.173 --> 00:17:46.321 he has sent me on a screen, on a computer or on a phone, I will do a design 00:17:46.321 --> 00:17:48.034 session, we are going to print 00:17:48.870 --> 00:17:54.576 And I will take my notes on the design. This is very, very important. 00:17:54.596 --> 00:17:57.810 It's very important. Because you can't see the whole picture otherwise. 00:17:57.943 --> 00:18:04.916 Yes, I need to feel the space. I need to draw the line. I need to do my sketch. I need to feel this. 00:18:04.916 --> 00:18:10.168 I always mention now AI in all the interviews, regardless of industry. Is that affecting you? 00:18:10.313 --> 00:18:11.656 No, we're not. No, no, no. 00:18:11.656 --> 00:18:12.676 It's not affecting your work. 00:18:13.096 --> 00:18:15.891 It's a tool that makes things faster. 00:18:16.013 --> 00:18:16.449 That's it? 00:18:17.376 --> 00:18:17.760 That's it. 00:18:17.998 --> 00:18:19.136 But you're still drawing with pen and paper. 00:18:21.396 --> 00:18:24.756 Of course. But there are certain elements that you can visualize it. 00:18:24.856 --> 00:18:31.046 AI has information but doesn't have the knowledge. And you have 00:18:31.046 --> 00:18:31.456 to know how to 00:18:31.456 --> 00:18:35.396 use it. As an architect or as a designer, You should have the knowledge And you 00:18:35.396 --> 00:18:38.306 have the knowledge, So you will tell AI how 00:18:38.306 --> 00:18:43.916 to think. We won't be able to tell AI If you don't have the knowledge. The prompts 00:18:43.916 --> 00:18:49.636 that you are feeding the AI with comes with your knowledge and your background. 00:18:49.636 --> 00:18:52.816 When we come back after the break, Karim and Fares talked to me about how their 00:18:52.816 --> 00:18:54.992 partnership began over 25 years ago. 00:18:55.381 --> 00:18:59.686 This episode is brought to you by EFG Hermes One, your one app for investment 00:18:59.686 --> 00:19:04.056 across more than 35 stock markets worldwide. With EFG Hermes One, 00:19:04.056 --> 00:19:09.859 you can buy and sell orders in real time for immediate execution across multiple global markets. 00:19:10.062 --> 00:19:13.716 You can keep track of your favorite stocks by creating and customizing multiple 00:19:13.716 --> 00:19:17.796 watch lists and make informed investment decisions with their advanced technical 00:19:17.796 --> 00:19:21.336 analysis tools to study market trends and investor behavior. 00:19:21.336 --> 00:19:25.956 So supercharge your financial journey and download the EFG Hermes One app on 00:19:25.956 --> 00:19:29.773 the Apple App Store and on Google Play and start investing today. 00:19:29.913 --> 00:19:31.242 Let's go back to your partnership. 00:19:31.796 --> 00:19:35.793 How, the early years, how did you then 00:19:37.453 --> 00:19:41.322 set up the business when you were working A few years together? At the beginning 00:19:41.322 --> 00:19:43.352 You worked on the same projects I'm assuming 00:19:43.352 --> 00:19:49.714 Yeah, yeah. But I want to tell you something just for a minute. Sure Go ahead, 00:19:51.339 --> 00:19:56.112 After we finished the big project that we did and we charged around.. I said, Karim We're 00:19:56.112 --> 00:19:58.456 gonna charge this amount of money. Karim told me, what? how will we say that? 00:19:59.282 --> 00:20:05.582 He thought it was too much. It was too much. And I don't want to say the amount but 00:20:05.582 --> 00:20:10.106 it was way, way too much And I told you Karim We don't have anything to lose 00:20:10.774 --> 00:20:12.822 we worked hard and we will do the project. 00:20:14.228 --> 00:20:19.462 And this is Where we started Alchemy. After this budget what we got from 00:20:19.462 --> 00:20:23.762 this project, We started. Karim suddenly, after 3 days, He said, Faris There's a place 00:20:23.762 --> 00:20:27.322 in Ma'ady. It's a showroom, 120 square meter. 00:20:27.322 --> 00:20:28.352 It was a showroom with products 00:20:28.352 --> 00:20:32.642 So Karim was like, do we take it? I said, Yes, Karim, we'll take it. He said, Faris we pay here 00:20:32.642 --> 00:20:34.402 400 pounds, 400 pounds in Downtown 00:20:36.782 --> 00:20:38.862 He's the risk-taker, not you. 00:20:39.382 --> 00:20:40.242 Fares is the risk 00:20:42.762 --> 00:20:43.462 taker. 00:20:43.462 --> 00:20:45.772 I mean, he wanted to go ahead. 00:20:45.772 --> 00:20:48.662 Yes, he has this. 00:20:48.662 --> 00:20:48.962 He can be more careful 00:20:48.962 --> 00:20:50.132 You're more impatient. 00:20:50.132 --> 00:20:57.044 I have the material, for example. And I have the idea. And I feel the idea. 00:20:57.660 --> 00:21:02.712 Sometimes the idea, I believe it will work. Yes. But if he doesn't, 00:21:02.712 --> 00:21:04.512 if he's not here, it doesn't work. 00:21:04.512 --> 00:21:07.242 Maybe because you overthink it. And you're cautious. He has this thing, it's courageous. 00:21:11.722 --> 00:21:16.692 He's thinking what do we have to lose, right,Faris? You can try, we 00:21:16.692 --> 00:21:20.622 have nothing to lose. You're young. This is the difference between the two. 00:21:21.782 --> 00:21:23.632 I can think about it more than once 00:21:23.632 --> 00:21:29.592 Karim always tells me, when you grow up and become my age 00:21:29.592 --> 00:21:34.468 Everytime, this is the point that I was able to know things, 00:21:35.495 --> 00:21:40.969 before I reached it because of his experience, this partnership. The yin and yang. 00:21:40.969 --> 00:21:45.189 You have the different strengths come from age too 00:21:45.189 --> 00:21:49.816 which is saying. After we did this project and we charged this project, 00:21:50.279 --> 00:21:53.456 We did the story. Karim said we'll do this, I said, yes, we'll do this, 00:21:54.629 --> 00:21:57.789 he said, we'll do the showroom, I said yes, 00:21:57.789 --> 00:22:02.729 let's do it and then we became partners. This is 2003. This is 2003. This is when. 00:22:02.729 --> 00:22:08.357 We all met, 2003 Yes, yes, yes. And then when you began at this stage, 00:22:09.228 --> 00:22:13.459 you were still working on similar projects, same projects, or you both began to branch out? 00:22:13.779 --> 00:22:17.279 I mean, there were a lot of projects that we did together. Yes, 00:22:17.279 --> 00:22:21.289 of course. But there were projects that were, and I'm busy 00:22:21.289 --> 00:22:24.499 and he's a busy. Well, you can take this and I do this, so we don't have 00:22:24.499 --> 00:22:29.109 to be in the same project. But this point is very important in our lives, because, 00:22:31.424 --> 00:22:34.839 I remember this very well. Dates, specific dates 00:22:35.419 --> 00:22:42.499 23/5/2003, it was the opening night of the High Heels. Everyone found out about Alchemy 00:22:42.499 --> 00:22:47.272 on the opening night of High Heels, 28/5/2003 was the opening of Alchemy 00:22:48.921 --> 00:22:52.567 All the people who were in the opening of High Heels, came to Alchemy. 00:22:55.022 --> 00:22:56.992 In 6th street, where no one used to visit 00:22:57.422 --> 00:23:01.222 The place was not known 00:23:01.222 --> 00:23:03.122 People said I'm crazy for choosing this place 00:23:04.242 --> 00:23:05.072 And how do you get there and which street is it? 00:23:05.072 --> 00:23:09.262 Yes, yes, yes. When the people entered and saw the 00:23:09.262 --> 00:23:14.732 design of the place I think at that moment, we introduced the grey color in Egypt 00:23:14.732 --> 00:23:15.590 Egypt was all in beige. 00:23:15.798 --> 00:23:20.902 You know that? I want to say something. That color, I think about Karim when it comes to this color 00:23:20.902 --> 00:23:27.824 like I'm in a Milano loft And it's Karim. This is what I think of 00:23:28.942 --> 00:23:31.262 I really remember all the people. It's brownish grey 00:23:33.742 --> 00:23:37.687 This color is Karim, not you, but Karim 00:23:37.884 --> 00:23:45.332 But actually when people came to Alchemy, Egypt is all beige. In general, Architecture, everything is beige. 00:23:45.462 --> 00:23:50.348 and Aubusson and all the shapes. And suddenly... 00:23:51.262 --> 00:23:52.502 Anyways, this was the start, 00:23:54.655 --> 00:23:56.774 Next milestone, when we did the first home in Hacienda. Yes. 00:23:57.064 --> 00:23:59.682 This was a big spotlight on you. 00:23:59.682 --> 00:24:07.592 This was in 2004 and then we started to take over. A lot of projects, a lot of 00:24:07.592 --> 00:24:09.672 residential projects, offices. 00:24:10.056 --> 00:24:14.432 Retail Karim, do you prefer residential or commercial work to work on? 00:24:14.432 --> 00:24:20.422 It's totally different. I prefer, I choose residential with the client. 00:24:20.422 --> 00:24:21.952 I have to like them. 00:24:21.952 --> 00:24:25.382 I was about to say that. Because there are clients.. 00:24:26.262 --> 00:24:31.952 Residential is very difficult because it's not...you are doing a space For other 00:24:31.952 --> 00:24:37.889 people. They are going to live in it. And it's not you who's going to live in it. So you cannot also 00:24:39.062 --> 00:24:45.472 impose everything that you like. You have to understand very 00:24:45.472 --> 00:24:48.162 well these people, how they live, what's their lifestyle, 00:24:48.942 --> 00:24:50.266 and then in a house, 00:24:51.444 --> 00:24:57.162 people are sitting on the couch for hours, and they can look for details for 00:24:57.777 --> 00:24:59.983 hours, and they see every single thing. 00:25:00.355 --> 00:25:02.372 In a commercial project, it's not like that. It's not like that. 00:25:02.432 --> 00:25:06.672 It's like more experience. And it's a quicker flow. It's a quick flow, etc. 00:25:07.072 --> 00:25:12.202 And then it's a faster project. Yes. So, of course, we prefer to have commercial. 00:25:12.202 --> 00:25:14.122 And you, Faris, do you have a preference? 00:25:14.122 --> 00:25:15.052 Of course, commercial. 00:25:15.052 --> 00:25:16.432 Commercial, huh? Of course, commercial. 00:25:16.432 --> 00:25:19.362 All the architects I ask this question to tell me the same thing. 00:25:19.362 --> 00:25:21.742 I think it's the speed of the project. Yeah, the speed. 00:25:21.742 --> 00:25:24.392 And you can create a lot of things within a commercial project. 00:25:24.592 --> 00:25:25.172 You get more of a carte blanche. 00:25:25.172 --> 00:25:29.292 And then you can go more crazy with commercial projects. In a restaurant, 00:25:29.292 --> 00:25:30.972 in a club, in a public area. 00:25:31.092 --> 00:25:33.837 People are more risky. You can go. You are more free. 00:25:34.672 --> 00:25:39.601 The other one is more clinical. It's like medical. 00:25:40.112 --> 00:25:43.508 How have you kept your relationship? How have you kept your partnership? 00:25:44.492 --> 00:25:48.204 It's a marriage. You've been in a marriage for 25 years, nearly 30 years. 00:25:48.657 --> 00:25:52.142 You have to be tolerant of each other. We don't see each other much And we don't 00:25:52.142 --> 00:25:55.882 talk. We meet outside. You travel 00:25:55.882 --> 00:25:57.672 together better. 00:25:57.672 --> 00:26:03.047 No, I'll tell you something. It's not easy. I learned, I am different now from who I was a year ago 00:26:05.362 --> 00:26:11.182 different from who I was twenty years ago 00:26:11.182 --> 00:26:12.939 And I realized just how much a person can learn, I made many mistakes, I made mistakes when it came to him [Karim] 00:26:15.982 --> 00:26:22.192 Not because of bad intention. It's because of I started to experience and to 00:26:22.192 --> 00:26:25.062 learn more about life. You know what I mean? 00:26:26.173 --> 00:26:33.615 But in the end when we knew to set the tone, We knew that, 00:26:34.762 --> 00:26:37.591 area where I need his consult on, 00:26:38.271 --> 00:26:42.042 where I need to agree with him on and areas where he agrees with me 00:26:42.042 --> 00:26:42.735 because he'll come and say, 00:26:43.217 --> 00:26:46.082 refer to Fares on this, not me 00:26:46.082 --> 00:26:51.422 Faris, he will take this. He will handle this. Of course, there were ups and downs 00:26:51.422 --> 00:26:54.122 There was a lot and a lot of problems. 00:26:57.382 --> 00:27:02.772 It's a marriage. There are things, I don't know, 00:27:02.772 --> 00:27:05.712 I feel it's my job to do it. And there are things he knows how to do it. We compliment each other 00:27:05.712 --> 00:27:08.942 For the company's sake 00:27:09.582 --> 00:27:16.512 But for example, is one of you more financially savvy? Is one of you more organizationally 00:27:16.512 --> 00:27:19.022 savvy? Or is it not important? No, 00:27:19.022 --> 00:27:23.932 no, Karim, of course, he has the vision. Sometimes he consults me and tells me, Faris 00:27:23.932 --> 00:27:30.582 we want to create this. Karim always when he has this idea, this idea, like he was saying, 00:27:31.465 --> 00:27:35.422 it will be done like.. I have the vision but Fares has to be a part of the it to believe it 00:27:35.422 --> 00:27:38.382 it And then we will all push together. 00:27:39.684 --> 00:27:42.652 We're going to do a lightning round. I don't know if you've watched episodes 00:27:42.652 --> 00:27:44.636 recently But I do this thing at the end 00:27:45.380 --> 00:27:49.932 where I ask questions. Don't overthink it. Just tell me what you think. Give me 00:27:49.932 --> 00:27:55.480 your answer. If you had 25 hours in a day, what would you do with your extra hour? 00:28:06.428 --> 00:28:08.414 Play with my toys 00:28:08.414 --> 00:28:10.515