16 hours ago
This French Tattoo Artist is Inking Cairo's Architecture
This French Tattoo Artist is Inking Cairo's Architecture
When you come across Miss Lulu's work online, it's hard not to fall down the rabbit hole. The French tattoo artists feed is a dreamy love letter to Cairo, filled with balconies, rusting staircases, and iron gates that look like they're keeping secrets. Her tattoos feel like portals, each one capturing something fleeting and familiar. And just when you think you've pinned her aesthetic down, you find out she also makes music. Of course she does.
Having already been entranced by her work, I volunteered to interview her. And when she walked in, it all made sense. She arrived like a vision, dripped out beyond anything the heatwave had ever seen. Her bag was exploding with keychains, charms, and plush toys. Her arms were a patchwork of colourful, playful tattoos. Her nails? Freshly done and screaming IT girl. Her shirt? A tribute to the Egyptian national football team. I was obsessed already.
We sat in a garden, where our phones were buzzing with that extreme temperature alert, but we were too busy yapping and having fun to care.
'I'm Miss Lulu, but my real name's Sarilou,' she said with a smile. 'I'm from Paris. I moved here four months ago.'
She started tattooing four years ago during the COVID-19 lockdown. 'I was bored,' she laughed. 'So I started practicing on myself. And here we are.'
Her journey to Cairo started as a visit. Her boyfriend was already living here, and she made him promise he'd show her the city. She came once in February, came back again in November, and by January… they were packing. 'We just said, okay, let's do this. Let's move.'
Now, she splits her time between two studios: Tappin Tatts in Maadi and Dina Maghawry's space in New Cairo. 'Totally different vibes, totally different people,' she said. 'But both feel like home.'
And then there's her tattoos.
If you've seen her work on Instagram or TikTok, you already know: gates, windows, staircases, balconies, archways, all inspired by Cairo. 'I live in Maadi, and when I first moved here I was like, what is this magical place? The houses felt like they were out of a fairytale.'
But it wasn't Maadi that sparked her gate obsession. It was an Uber ride to the airport. 'I saw this gate from the car window. It shocked me. I took blurry photos but I knew I had to draw it.'
That led to what's now become a whole aesthetic universe. Her reels are dreamy tributes to Zamalek palaces and Maadi villas, and she takes her runs like scavenger hunts. 'I stop every five seconds to take a photo of a gate. I ruin my workouts,' she laughs. 'But then I'll think, I've seen every gate in Maadi, and the next day, I find ten more.' Zamalek, she says, was all about community. 'My friends were there. The warmth. The energy. That's what pulled me in.'
But tattooing isn't just about visuals for her, it's deeply personal. 'My goal is to empower women. When someone tells me they feel better about their body after I tattoo them, I cry. That's why I do this.'
Her favourite thing to tattoo? Gates, of course. 'They're this metaphor. They represent history, but also the future. They're a threshold. I've always been drawn to doors.'
She tells me about one in particular, near her gym in Maadi. 'I took so many pictures of it, the security guard came over like, what are you doing? I showed him the sketches and he was like, go for it.'
And yes, she's noticed how people in Cairo relate to tattoos differently. 'Here, people choose tattoos with real meaning. Like, this is the balcony where I fell in love, or this is the gate I pass by every night. In New York, it's more about aesthetics, which is cool too, but here, it's emotional. Intimate.'
And then there's the creativity. 'The placements here are wild. People want chest pieces, shoulder-to-shoulder tattoos, designs that feel personal. Not just arms and legs. It's inspiring.'
Her dream tattoo? To recreate that gate she saw in the Uber. And maybe one day, to wander through Alexandria and let its sea-worn architecture speak to her.
'I want people to leave with a piece of Cairo on them,' she said. 'To carry the magic of this city. To be hooked by it. Forever.'
