Handmade in Cairo
About
At its heart, Samawyat is a small studio of keepsakes, a meeting place between photos and paper, memory and craft, the everyday and the kept: where ordinary days become something to hold.
Sama Khalifa began it in Cairo in 2018, and she still designs, prints and finishes every piece herself, by hand, slowly, one order and one person at a time.
It makes magazines for graduations, for birthdays, for best friends, and a “My World” magazine about one person. Beside them sit the gifts: birthday boxes, memory boxes, letters and envelopes, painted wood-slice portraits, keychains, a painted mirror and gift bags.
Every order begins with you. You choose a magazine and send twenty-five photos, a front and a back cover photo, the name, the birthday and the words you want inside. Sama designs it and sends a preview to approve before anything is printed, then a photo once it is printed. It takes seven to twelve days.
Together they make one quiet idea: the people you love, kept on paper, in a box or on wood, made once and only for them, to be opened again and again, for years.
Handmade in Cairo
Made by hand, page by page, photo by photo.
Since 2018 I have been making magazines and gifts by hand in Cairo: graduation and birthday magazines, best-friends editions and “My World”, birthday and memory boxes, letters, keychains, wood-slice portraits and a painted mirror. Each one begins with your photos.
You choose a magazine and send me 25 photos, a front and a back cover photo, the name, the birthday and the words you want inside. I design every page and send you a preview, and nothing is printed until you have looked it over and approved it.
Once it is printed I send you a photo of it before it ships. It takes seven to twelve days, with half paid as a deposit and the rest before shipping. You can find more of my work, order by order, on Instagram at @samawyat_gallery, which is also the place to ask me anything before you order.
With love, Sama
How an order works
Handmade in Cairo
You choose your magazine from our ten styles on the customize page, then send us on Instagram 25 photos, a photo for the front cover and one for the back, the name, the birthday and the words you want to keep inside it for the years to come.
Sama designs every page of it by hand. Before anything is printed she sends you a preview to approve, so nothing goes to print without your yes, and once it is printed she sends you a photo of the finished magazine, so you see it before it leaves her studio.
It takes 7 to 15 days. A 50% deposit begins the work, and the rest is paid before shipping. May every page hold the people you love. May it keep the small days you would forget. May it be opened again and again, a gift made by hand. Write to us on Instagram to begin, and tell us who the magazine is for and what they mean to you.
Time
7–15 days
Deposit
50% to begin
Preview
Before printing