Inside Vacheron Constantin's Met Artisan Residency With Egyptian Ceramist Ibrahim Said

At The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, a sculpture inspired by ancient Egyptian stories offers a unique way of thinking about time. Created by Egyptian American ceramicist Ibrahim Said, Shaping Time is a detailed, three-tiered ceramic sculpture that draws on centuries of Egyptian artistic tradition while exploring the limits of the material. Its curved shapes, geometric patterns, and seemingly weightless design bring together the past and present. What makes the sculpture especially interesting is the brand behind it: Vacheron Constantin, the Swiss watchmaker that has been measuring time for more than 270 years. Revealed at The Met on 8 October, the sculpture is one of three commissions produced through the Artisan Residency Programme, a collaboration between the museum and Vacheron Constantin. Having commenced in May 2025, the programme invited three artists across distinct mediums to come together and create something original. This included Said, American furniture maker and designer Aspen Golann, and Anglo-Italian goldsmith and jeweller Joy Harvey.

Over the duration of the programme, the artists got the opportunity to explore The Met in intimate detail, whilst also visiting the watchmaker’s artisans in Geneva, studying the people who lean on centuries of technical and cultural knowledge to encourage new levels of expression on each of their respective crafts.

For Vacheron Constantin, the ambitions of the project demonstrate the maison’s enduring commitment to honouring and preserving craftsmanship and also training one eye on evolution. Skilled techniques such as engraving, enamelling, and guilloche have been pivotal to the maison’s heritage for generations. But the point of all of this is not to preserve traditions. Instead, challenge them and push them into a new and unfamiliar space. Very few artists personify the synergy between tradition and innovation as passionately as Ibrahim Said. Born into a family of potters in Fustat, Egypt, Said grew up watching his father work on clay, which eventually inspired him to pick up the craft and later develop his own practice. When speaking to GQ, he recalls the impact his relationship with his father had on shaping who he is today, and although many mistakenly assume he was born into a generational lineage of potters, he himself is only second generation. His father was the first in his family. “He was the one who planted the love of clay inside me,” he says. He didn’t force Said into a profession he didn’t want, instead encouraged him to experiment freely, allowing for his curiosity for craft to nurture into something meaningful. It’s exactly that freedom of expression that fortified Said’s love and respect for craftsmanship. His somewhat unorthodox artistic education was not so simply rooted in centuries of institution, much like Vacheron Constantin, instead honed in the workshops of Fustat, where traditional techniques were passed down through observation, trial and error. While today, modern machinery can prepare materials in a matter of minutes, Said recalls processes in Egypt that could take several months with clay mixtures left outside to dry under the sun. Such respect to his practice and the process of it continues to act as a key influence in his work, particularly around his desire to create challenging ceramic structures that perplex his audience by seemingly defying gravity. “Everyone dreams according to the skills they have and what they can do,” he explains. “If you can do more, you can dream bigger.”