By Heba Talaat Mohamed
Did you ever think about getting a painted piece that’s specially made for you? You might want to think about speaking to Sara Magdy then. She is an Egyptian girl who studied architecture but painting was always the thing that helped her overcome the stresses of life. After establishing “Paint Bar”, she turned her dreams into reality.
Sara decided to make a career shift from being a landscape designer to an artist. She was a painter for all her life, even in school she was famous for her talent in drawing.
Her shift was a result of pure coincidence. It started when she decided to paint beach bags to give to her friends as gifts. She did so in a public place where to her surprise, a crowd of people gathered to ask about the beach bags and whether or not she was interested in selling them. It was at that moment that Sara knew that she can turn her passion into a profession.
She founded @PaintBarBySaraMagdy on Instagram to start sharing her hobby with the public. “When I decided to open Paint Bar to share with the people what I love, it was very rewarding,” she said. After that, she decided to leave her job seeking to do what she loves the most. “My favorite thing about what happened is that my hobby became my profession”. She started selling bags and denim jackets for clients hand-painted by her according to their specifications.
She finds the feedback and appreciation she gets from her clients very encouraging and it’s what keeps her going. She decided to combine her art with fashion to appeal to more people as she found that her art on its own wasn’t enough to win a wider audience. “Painters in Egypt are not that appreciated, but all people are into fashion, they always like to wear unique stuff that is specially made for them and that is exactly what I try to do,” she said.
Sara personally created some pieces for celebrities such as the superstar Esaad Younis and the lovely couple Hana Al Zahid and Ahmed Fahmy. They loved her pieces so much that they shared them on social media and commended her for her work.
Sara struggles to maintain the uniqueness of her work because many of her ideas are often stolen by other artists. “You always feel that your own ideas can be taken easily which puts you under more pressure every day to get new
