In ancient Egypt, the ostrich was a creature of both the everyday and the eternal. Its eggs were emptied and used as containers, placed in tombs as offerings of rebirth, and painted into the rock art of the desert.
Etched ostrich egg, Predynastic Egypt (ca. 6500 BCE) - Triangular and sinuous carvings, possibly symbolizing pyramids and the Nile
Top: Rock drawing at Silwa Bahari depicting ostriches. Bottom: Emptied ostrich egg from the Neolithic site of Bir Kiseiba.
Once roaming widely along the Nile, the ostrich gradually disappeared from Egypt’s landscape, but its eggs remained - symbols of life, continuity, and memory. What survives today is a record of how deeply intertwined these luminous shells were with ritual, survival, and belief.
Male ostrich in Wadi Allaqi (1980), a modern glimpse of a bird once widespread across Egypt.
Distribution maps of ostriches in Egypt, showing their decline from 1700–1900 to the present
For Nada El-Kateb, co-founder of Material Lights, growing up in Egypt meant being surrounded by a deep, layered history where nature and ritual were inseparable. Together with Toma Sova, the studio draws on this heritage, blending it with their architectural training in Sweden and a nordic sensitivity to form and atmosphere. Their work honors materials - whether alabaster or ostrich egg - not only for their physical qualities, but for the stories they carry across time.
