Unlocking Ancient Memory Through AI
A dialogue between lost worlds and new technology.
About two months ago, I created a collection of AI-generated designs inspired by the 4,000-year-old tomb of Prince Waser-If-Re, unearthed near Saqqara, Egypt, in April 2025.
Prince Waser-If-Re was the son of King Userkaf, founder of Egypt’s Fifth Dynasty. His tomb, which had been sealed for millennia, held more than just gold, jewels, and inscriptions.
It carried time itself, preserved in stone and shadow.
When a place like this is opened, the air that escapes hasn’t touched a human lung in four thousand years. It’s the same air exhaled by those who buried him, the same dust that settled on their skin. What fills the chamber isn’t silence, it’s the echo of eternity.
Beyond the relics and hieroglyphs lies something subtler: an energetic residue. Energetically, tombs like these often hold the psychological imprint of a civilization that believed so deeply in immortality that they built it into their architecture.
They carry future technologies and ancient memories.
They carry myth.
They carry the essence of human continuity.
I wanted to channel that same energy: the timeless curiosity and sacred creativity of ancient Egypt through modern AI tools.
This became the foundation of this design collection.
Then, earlier last week, I saw Dario Vitale’s debut collection for Versace. What caught me off guard was the similarity in certain details to my own AI concepts from two months prior. Not because I believed anyone had copied my work, but because it showed how two creators, working from entirely different inspirations, could arrive at surprisingly aligned visions.
While Dario’s collection drew inspiration from ‘80s bourgeois style and Gianni Versace’s ‘90s Miami opulence, my work was rooted in ancient Egyptian symbolism, reimagined for today’s world.
My point isn’t to claim influence, but to highlight something much bigger:
AI can serve as a creative bridge between the past and the present. When used with intention, it doesn’t just generate images; it activates memory, unlocking layers of history and cultural resonance that reach beyond what any single human mind can hold.
This project reminded me that inspiration isn’t owned, it’s activated.
Sometimes, when we tap into the right current, we find ourselves creating alongside time itself.
Working on some “free” and exclusive pattern designs inspired by this collection for all Substack Subscribers.
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