This trade relationship is currently not active. (Status of 2022)

 

Profile of CONTIGO´s partner Glass Style

Supply chain

• Trade partner: Glass Style, microenterprise
• Function: producer
• Structure: own production facility
• Distribution: direct import CONTIGO

Products

Handmade tableware and home decorations made of glass

Location

Showroom: Cairo, quarter Heliopolis, Egypt – distance to Europe: 3,000km

Production / workshop: Cairo, quarter Ain Shams, Egypt – distance to Europe: 3,000km

Founded in 1992

History

• Walid Onsy is a glass artist and professor at the faculty of Applied Arts in Cairo. He is well known and attends many national and international exhibitions
• 1992: Foundation of a studio for handmade glass art in “Fusing” technique, at the beginning in the range of room decorations. Walid Onsy developed the glass melting process himself
• 2002: Restructuring and expansion of the studio, specialisation in functional and artistic glassware and objects such as statues, lamps, glass windows
• Since 2010: Focus on export by participating in various trade fairs, new international customers can be won

Cooperation with CONTIGO since 2018

Why does CONTIGO with Glass Style:
At Glass Style we appreciate the dedication to craftsmanship as well as the focus on utility and sophisticated design. The Onsy / Bahaa couple has proven to be a committed partner, perfectly taking on board our ideas and putting them into practice.

Structure of the business

Number of employees:

• Management: Walid Onsy and his wife Suzan Bahaa
• 19 full time employees (11 women, 8 men)
  • 12 permanent employees in production and quality control: men are responsible for cutting and sanding the glass, women for design work (painting)
  • 2 management (see above) und 1 senior designer
  • 4 employees for sales and marketing
  • All employees can be employed all year round

Organisation of workforce: 

All production steps are completed in their own workshop in Ain Shams.

Work environment and equipment:

Light, clean, well air-conditioned and organised workshop. The workshop and office rooms in two neighbouring houses extend over several floors:

• Two rooms for electric melting furnaces
• Office floor for administration, design and sales
• One floor with several workrooms for the manual processing of the glass (see below “Work steps”)
• Packaging and storage

Glass Style is the only workshop in Egypt with a melting furnace for large products.

Work steps:

• Material: simple, non-recycled glass plates with a thickness of 3-8 mm; either only one layer of glass is used or two layers of glass are fused together
• Production of raw glass moulds from refractory material can be used between 150 and 300 times
• Cleaning of the glass
• Cutting of the glass according to the planned shape (by machine or by hand, depending on the shape)
• Colouring of the glass: coloured powdered glass is placed between two glass plates. Due to the heat, the powder melts and forms a large-area colour texture
• Painting of the glass: designs are hand-painted with food-safe colours
• Preparation of the melting process by adding a glass separating substance (kaolin, white clay) to the mould to prevent the glass from sticking to the mould during the melting process
• Furnace melting (between 800 and 880 degrees) between 8 and 10 hours
• Cooling of the glass to avoid cracking takes another 24 hours
• Finishing processes, e.g. cleaning, grinding or polishing, so that the end product becomes transparent, semi-transparent or covered
• Quality control

Sales

• Exports (40%) to Europe, Middle-East and the U.S.
• Home market (60%), amongst others: sales via their own gallery, hotels, public institutions

Goals

• To further develop the Egyptian glass craft and to preserve a centuries-old cultural asset
• To move to a larger production site with better equipment

 

Fairtrade classification

FTA = Fairtrade Approved

 

Fairtrade aspects

Glass Style complies with the following Fairtrade Principles:

No child labour

No discrimination

No discrimination due to gender, disability, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, political orientation, or infection with HIV

Fair wages

• Minimum wage in Cairo (handicraft sector): EGP 1,200/month (EGP=Egyptian Pound)
• Fixed salaries at Glass Style:
  • EGP 2,000 – 2,500/month for un-skilled employees (in the training and induction phase)
  • EGP 3,500 – 4,500/month for skilled employees
• Salaries are paid out in cash monthly
• Bonus payments
  • Annual bonus: 15% of the monthly salary is paid out as a bonus per quarter
  • Holiday bonus
  • On important religious holidays (begin and end of Ramadan)
• Overtime is paid in double the normal pay per hour

Humane working conditions

Working hours:

• 8 hours/day
• Regular lunch break
• 6 days/week

Social benefits:

• Paid holidays (one week of recreation leave + paid national and religious holidays)
• Continuous payment of salary in case of sickness or accident
• Contributions to health insurance are paid
• In case of need: payment of further medical expenses
• In case of need (e.g. for family affairs): loans or advance payments are available, individual reimbursable plan

Occupational safety

• All safety standards are met
• Working uniforms, protective clothing and safety glasses are provided

 

Transparency

• Payroll is available
• Pay slips are available
• SAR (Self Assessment Report) was duly submitted to CONTIGO

 

Monitoring

• Personal visit in Cairo (2020)
• Glass Style visits the CONTIGO headquarter in Göttingen (2019)

 

Country information

See Encyclopaedia Britannica: Egypt