Flair Magazine By : Menna Saad El Deen
As we finished up night two of Design Week, we couldn’t help but notice a striking piece of art on display in one of the booth’s at the Edition’s art fair. What can only be described as whimsical, hyper-realistic little sculptures, we found ourselves staring at shiny little chocolates, lollipops, heart’s with a bite taken out of them, and luscious, shiny lips.
“Let me know if you have any questions,” said a petite woman with bright eyes. “Thanks,” I replied, not realising I was speaking with the actual artist herself, Rawan Sirry. “Oh! You’re the artist! Wow! Where do I even begin!” I responded. And that’s how a wonderful conversation about children’s clay, her love of chocolate, and Cairo began.
Rawan, who is half Palestinian, half Lebanese, was born in London, educated in Switzerland, and lived between London, Egypt, Spain, and Germany, before eventually moving to Dubai. “I love Cairo,” she said to me, recalling the few years she spent there as a teen. “The people, the warmth. It just feels like home.”
“Do you have kids?’ I asked her, only because her sculptures look like something out of a child’s dream, and she replied, “Yes, that’s how this all started.”
One afternoon as Rawan headed over to her kitchen to grab a piece of chocolate (she’s a self-confessed chocoholic), her daughter handed her a piece of brown clay that she had been playing with, and asked her mom to make it into something, complaining that she didn’t know what to do with it. Rawan took it in her hand and began moulding it, and before she knew it, she had subconsciously moulded a perfect little “piece of chocolate” in the palm of her hand.
And that’s how it all began.
Loving the versatility of clay, and experimenting with different mediums including polymer, acrylic, and mixed media, Rawan began the journey into her own sweet sculptured world. Now, with over 500 intricate sweet art pieces completed, Rawan is satisfied creatively, and best of all – calorie-free!
