Craft by Two is a true family venture. Husband and wife Saeid and Luisa Momtahan work side by side, handcrafting quirky home accessories – and their teenage daughter has also been known to lend the odd helping hand.
The couple specialise in metal and woodwork; Luisa’s speciality is wood, while Saeid prefers metal. The duo returned to the UAE last year, having previously lived here for 20 years. In the interim, they spent time in Luisa’s native Philippines, where they developed an interest in creating things and then selling them at weekend markets.
Back in the UAE, the couple have continued the tradition, selling their handcrafted wares at Dubai’s Arte market. “We are loyal Arte vendors,” Saied tells me. “It’s a really fantastic market.”
The business is based out of a small workshop in Ajman, although there are plans to secure a larger space and branch out into furniture design after the summer. They have been picking up some larger projects, creating furniture for restaurants and shops, including a new unnamed eatery in Dubai’s City Walk, so the idea is to experiment more with these types of pieces. For now, however, their mainstay on the wood side of the business is vintage-style, custom-crafted slogan boards.
“The work is all done by hand. We work with solid wood, as well as recycled or rescued wood,” Saeid explains.
On the metal side, Saeid crafts an assortment of quirky light fixtures, often using metal pipes as a starting point. There are Coca-Cola bottles strung from metal pipes, or old-school Edison bulbs hanging from industrial pulleys. There are also quirky table lamps that consist of pieces of pipe assembled in the form of mini figurines, with light bulbs for heads.
“I trained as an electrical engineer,” Saeid explains. “But I’m also a photographer, so am more creative than technical. The creative part comes very naturally to me.”
While Saeid still takes on the occasional photography job, Craft by Two is increasingly becoming the couple’s full-time gig. They’re inspired by the freedom it affords them. “We create what we like and people either love it or hate it,” Saeid says. “Our pieces are definitely very unique. A lot of what we do is one-offs. There is no real way to recreate it, and you can’t find anything similar in the shops. People really appreciate that one-off aspect of it.”
The pieces are currently sold via www.biddi.com, although Saeid acknowledges that they're the sort of items that people might need to see to fully appreciate. "People are welcome to come and see the stuff in person. It's nice to touch it and then fall in love with it. The pieces have a nice weight and feel to them; that really appeals to people."
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/craftbytwo.
sdenman@thenational.ae