Peter Matta is a man that leaves an impression wherever he goes – be it on a beach in Gouna, a glitterati party in Cairo, or at Beano’s in Zamalek – which is where I met him on a particularly noisy day to speak about his latest entrepreneurial venture, Beit Matta.

Having been bred of the corporate world through the family business, Matta spends as much time as he can in El Gouna, where his vision for unique, one-of-a-kind, handmade home accessories and furniture first came to light.

Only months into his new path of artisanship, the name Matta is on everyone’s lips – and not just because it’s fun to say.

So, you traded in your suit and tie for shorts and shades?

Yeah, I took over the family business in 2005 and was working in the medical industry for around nine years – think ambulances, medical equipment etc. I brought in some of my own ideas and we were the first to bring ambulance boats in the Middle East, Africa and some European Countries. We launched them in Luxor and Aswan in 2010 in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, before bringing them to Cairo in 2013. We’re still spreading the initiative to other Nile locations and to the Mediterranean and Red Seas. We were also the biggest supplier for engineering machinery, as well as accessories for food & beverage factories.

And now you’re making home accessories – what made you make such a dramatic career change?

By 2010, my personal interests and passions began to take me to where I needed to be. I wanted to do something for me; something that I’m more connected to. I kept exploring and I even went to New York for a while to study events management and marketing and was ready to embark on a career in that field. By 2012, though, I was ready to leave Egypt and had put together a six-month exit plan. But almost exactly six months later, I fell in love with the idea of Beit Matta.

My plans quickly changed; I had finally found something that I liked, so I thought, “Why should I leave?”

It all started by luck. There was never a plan. It started with me making my own furniture and home accessories at my place in Gouna.