Some brands are built on trend forecasts and market gaps. HAUS OF OMA was built on something far more personal. Egyptian designer Omar Lotfy didn’t set out to create a label; he set out to create a world. One rooted in memory, intimacy, in the kind of details that don’t make it onto the mood boards but live rent-free in the back of your mind forever.
From sketches first put onto paper as a child to oversized, unisex pieces that function less like clothing and more like portable canvases, Lotfy has quietly been building something that the fashion world doesn’t have a clean category for. And maybe that’s exactly the point.
Cosmo ME sat down with the founder of one of the most compelling emerging brands to talk origins, obsession, and what it really means to wear your world on your sleeve.
Cosmo ME: Tell us a bit about HAUS OF OMA. What is it and what’s the story behind it?
OL: HAUS OF OMA is a cultural memory design house rooted in emotion, storytelling, and the art of remembering. It started from a deeply personal place, a dream I once shared with my other self, my sister; from sketching, noticing details, and wanting to turn feeling into something tangible you can wear and live with. Since I was a child, I’ve always been collecting atmospheres, moments, textures, and emotions without even realising it. Growing up in Egypt, while constantly moving between cities and cultures, shaped the way I see beauty, storytelling, and design. I became deeply inspired by architecture, museums, fashion, old objects, family rituals, Mediterranean summers, and the raw poetry of everyday life. Over time, HAUS OF OMA became the space where all those fragments finally found a language. At its core, the house is about creating pieces that hold a mood, a place, or a moment in time; almost like wearable memories you can return to.
Cosmo ME: Where did the name HAUS OF OMA come from?
OL: “HAUS” felt right because I wanted the brand to feel like a world or the space that feels like home to you; it’s a shelter, a place with a soul. And “OMA” became this softer, more mysterious presence, almost like a character, or a memory, or a fragment of a feeling you cannot fully explain but instantly recognise. The name holds both structure and softness, which is very much the balance of the brand.
Cosmo ME: What were you doing before HAUS OF OMA, and was fashion always in the plan?
OL: Before HAUS OF OMA, I was already living inside design, as an architect by study, in one form or another; observing, sketching, collecting references, and trying to understand how beauty becomes something tangible. Fashion was never a linear plan, but design always was. HAUS OF OMA became the point where those instincts finally found a language, almost becoming an architecture of memory, emotion, and space.
Cosmo ME: You grew up sketching, but there’s a gap between a kid who loves to draw and a founder who launches. What filled that gap?
OL: Life, honestly. Experience, discipline, doubt, obsession, and the quiet decision to keep going even when the idea was still only half-formed. That gap was filled by learning how to trust my eye, how to translate emotion into something tangible, and how to stop waiting for permission.
Cosmo ME: You often speak and write about “memories”; what memories keep you inspired to create?
OL: I’m inspired by the kind of memories that stay in the body. Memories from when I was a little boy who knew nothing about life yet, only colouring pencils, sketchbooks, and the instinct to draw everything I saw on literally anything around me haha. Somehow, even then, certain moments already took space in my mind: summer light, fruit resting on a table, fabric moving with the wind, long afternoons, old notebooks, familiar voices, the atmosphere of a place. I’ve always been drawn to memories that are sensory more than literal; the ones that are not just seen, but deeply felt.
Cosmo ME: What does your role as founder of HAUS OF OMA look like on a day-to-day basis?
OL: It’s creative, explorative, and deeply curated, but also very hands-on. I move between concept development, storytelling, product direction, references, visuals, and making sure the brand stays emotionally coherent from the first sketch to the final experience. A big part of my role is protecting the soul of the brand while still allowing it to evolve. HAUS OF OMA is deeply shaped by the way I grew up in Egypt, constantly moving between cities, absorbing architecture, museums, art, people, and the beauty of everyday life. I think all of those experiences quietly shaped the emotional language of the house.
Cosmo ME: What’s been the hardest part of building the brand? What lessons came of it?
OL: The hardest part has been learning patience, emotional stability, and understanding how delicate it is to translate a feeling or a memory into something tangible. I’ve learned that beauty alone is not enough; a brand also needs clarity, structure, discipline, and consistency behind it. The biggest lesson for me has been realising that having a strong point of view is important, but it means nothing without execution. You can create something emotionally powerful and visually beautiful, but you still have to build it properly for it to truly last.
Cosmo ME: Do you have a mentor; someone whose advice you lean on?
OL: My mother and my sisters have always been both my mentors and my muses. They shaped the way I understand beauty, emotion, femininity, tenderness, self-acceptance and strength long before I even understood design itself. So much of the emotional language behind HAUS OF OMA was born from simply growing up around them, observing the way they carried memories, rituals, conversations, fabrics, fragrances, and everyday life with such depth and elegance. I think the house, in many ways, is a love letter to them and to my younger self.
Cosmo ME: What advice would you give to someone who wants to turn a personal passion into a business?
OL: Protect the heart of it first. Don’t rush to make it “bigger” before you know what makes it yours. Passion becomes a business when you pair feelings with consistency, and when you’re willing to do the unglamorous work behind the beautiful idea.
Cosmo ME: What’s next for HAUS OF OMA?
OL: Taking over the other elements of the Haus. We’re just starting with the accessories in my sister’s room; imagine what our intake of the other elements in the house would look like. Maybe my wardrobe is next? Who knows. But what I am sure of is that there is more depth, more storytelling, and more pieces that feel like they belong in the Haus. I want to keep building a world that feels intimate but expansive at the same time, something that continues to carry memory, but in new forms and with a stronger presence. The next chapter is really about growing without ever losing the soul.
Head to hausofoma.world to discover all that is HAUS OF OMA.
Next, discover our very own beauty editor’s beauty brand: 3 of Cups.