How EgyGrillz Became Egypt’s Go-To Name for Grills

Mohamed Mahdy, the 23-year-old founder of EgyGrillz, has become one of the defining figures in Egypt’s small but growing grills scene.

Since 2021, Mohamed Mahdy has been building a company built specifically around grills, still a rarity in Egypt, and a close collaborator of many of the country’s rappers, including Marwan Pablo, Lella Fadda, and Ziad Zaza, amongst others.

At 17, Mahdy was just another Travis Scott fan with a DIY dental jewellery-making hobby, taking it upon himself to hand-forge his first pair of grills. It was a personal project, but despite being a first-timer, he was not exactly starting from zero.

‘Both of my parents are dentists, so we have a clinic, and we have a lab. Both are actually in the same building as our apartment,’ Mahdy explains.

Mahdy says he taught himself because, at least as far as he could find, no one in Egypt was making grills and no one could teach him how. So for a while, YouTube was his closest friend. Several videos and online courses later, he made his first pair, and by his own account it was terrible.

As soon as the ball started rolling, it was time to mould teeth other than his own, but Mahdy had a marketing philosophy of his own.

‘I rely on word of mouth and organic marketing. I don’t want to explain, necessarily, what grills are. I remain selective with the people I make grills for. I really do it for the art, not the money,’ Mahdy says.

This selectivity is evident in his collaborations. He is intentional about who wears his work, treating each commission as a creative partnership rather than a transaction. Aside from grills, Mahdy had recently collaborated with fashion designer Amina Galal on metal chest pieces for her Autumn/Winter 2026 collection. But grills remain his main pursuit, as the jewellery piece makes up the title of his brand.

He started out making grills for friends on the cheap and set up an Instagram page almost on a whim. A month or two later, stylist Rwida El Badry reached out to commission a pair for a shoot featuring Ziad Zaza. Mahdy recalls that the shoot led to a string of other artist commissions.

With his parents being in the field, Mahdy now continues the legacy, both through metal and a formal dentistry education himself. Part of his ethos is making grills safe for teeth, no matter how avant-garde or experimental. He wants his medical knowledge of teeth to set him apart from the rest.

Formal dentistry is also how he was able to build his team, hiring his colleagues at Ain Shams University and his older sister, also a dentist, who Mahdy used to accompany at university classes whilst he was still in high school.

Although a company managed mostly by experts in dentistry, Mahdy is big on quality control – all the finishes have to go through him. This is how he was able to build a following, including making grills for a Madinet Masr real estate featuring actor Maged El Kedwany.

‘Making grills for Maged El Kedwany was my proudest moment, mainly because my family are fans of his,’ Mahdy explains, although from day one, his parents offered their spaces and expertise for his grills endeavour. ‘El Kedwany is a big name in Egyptian households, and it was an honor working with him,’ he adds.

Still early in his journey, Mahdy remains focused on refinement rather than expansion. There are no plans for mass exposure or rapid scaling – ‘what rises quickly, comes down quickly,’ he tells me.

Mahdy insists instead on intention, discretion, and craft. Each piece is treated less like an accessory and more like a collaboration between artist, maker, and the body itself.

‘Grills are always shiny and pristine, but I believe the person wearing them is what makes the piece. It’s a package, an extension of the person, and well, of jewelry they own already’ Mahdy explains.

This approach helps him with inspiration. ‘Sometimes I tell the artist to bring their existing jewelry, attempting to build them a coherent identity with their jewelry. I get inspired by their personal rings, chains, etc.’ says Mahdy.

As Egyptian hip-hop continues to shape the country’s cultural identity, grills have quietly become symbols of confidence, rebellion, and self-definition. Through EgyGrillz, Mahdy is not just introducing a jewellery form to Egypt, he is redefining it on his own terms, grounded in both street culture and clinical responsibility. He is committed to learning, experimenting, and protecting the integrity of the craft.

For now, his focus remains local: perfecting his technique, deepening relationships with artists, and building a legacy rooted in quality over quantity. So far, EgyGrillz stands as proof that sometimes, the most lasting movements begin quietly, shaped not by hype but by patience, precision, and an unwavering belief in the work itself.