BEIRUT DESIGN FAIR responds to the expectations of amateurs, collectors and professionals in search of different and innovative methods, ideas and inspirations in the field of design. “Our objective is to promote recognition of Lebanon’s proper place: at the forefront of creativity in the region. We have here assembled evidence confirming that Beirut has both the legitimacy and the means to become a capital of design.” – Guillaume Taslé d’Héliand, Founder-Director
Over the course of four intense days filled with events and interaction, Beirut Design Fair will gather the best names in Lebanese design – from designers and labels to galleries, distributors, and exceptional artisans – in order to demonstrate the legitimacy of Lebanon’s place at the heart of the international design scene. According to Hala Moubarak, Co-founder & Head of Exhibitor Relations, “The work of Lebanese designers is the fruit of innovative, moving, and elegant ideas; sometimes, research and the desire to preserve ancestral craftsmanship lead to an invaluable creative inspiration.” Among the fair’s participants will be: Joy Mardini Design Gallery (showing Carla Baz, David & Nicolas, and Charles Kalpakian), Carwan Gallery (Lindsey Adelman, Carlo & Mary-Lynn Massoud, Georges Mohasseb, Paul Matter), Ramy Boutros, Hawini (Wissam Moubarak), YEW Studio (Rami Kik), Hicham Ghandour, and Fadi Sarieddine. The full list of participating galleries will be unveiled in the coming days.
Beirut Design Fair will be marked by events, conferences, roundtable discussions and design courses. The fair’s program will be available on its website at the beginning of September, but we can already mention some highlights: a stop at FabLab, a one-of-a-kind workshop that unites a host of trades and makes them available to Lebanese designers, or a behind-the-scenes visit to Basta, Beirut’s flea market.
Since its inception, Beirut Design Fair has prioritized quality, creativity, and a cosmopolitan spirit, an emphasis which makes the selection of Studio Adrien Gardère a natural and obvious choice for the direction of the event’s scenography. The collaboration between Beirut Design Fair and Studio Adrien Gardère is intended to generate a spatial language unique to the fair, forged in a spirit of cooperation while keeping in mind the creative singularity of each participant. Inspired by the contrasts in the urban landscape of Beirut, the fair’s scenography will guide visitors along a dynamic and contemporary path.
SPOT ON! will showcase some twenty emerging talents from a new generation of Lebanese designers who will exhibit their creations in a shared pavilion. These include Sayar & Garibeh (presented by the Starch Foundation – Rabih Kayrouz), a selection by ALBA (the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts), Architecture & Mechanism, Anastasia Nysten, and Souraya Haddad – Credoz Rami Matar.
At the heart of the fair, The Banquet will provide a dedicated space in which participants and visitors will be encouraged to exchange ideas, perspectives and discoveries. In the Land of the Cedar, home to one of the world’s oldest cultures, The Banquet, will be situated on a large dining table sculpted from 50,000 year-old wood, around which participants will be invited to gather and taste some of Lebanon’s greatest delicacies, provided by renowned chef Maroun Chedid.
Finally, the salon MAISON & OBJET will organize a networking event at Beirut Design Fair that will bring together the Lebanese design, decoration and lifestyle communities.
For its first edition, Beirut Design Fair has assembled an exceptional selection committee whose members are attached to Beirut and Lebanon either by origin or by affinity: Aline Asmar d’Amman (architect, interior designer and artistic director), India Mahdavi (architect, designer and interior designer), Marc Baroud (designer and director of the design department of the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts), Marianne Brabant (from the Modern and Contemporary Department of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Paris), and Mathias Orhel (founder of m-0 creative recruitment consultancy). During the salon this committee will also participate in the selection and attribution of the Beirut Design Award for creativity and innovation.
Beirut Design Fair will be held at BIEL (the Beirut International Exhibition & Leisure Center) from September 20 to 24, 2017.
The fair will be both simultaneous with and adjacent to BEIRUT ART FAIR, the contemporary art fair which since 2010 has promoted the artistic and cultural vibrancy of Beirut, of Lebanon and of the ME.NA countries (Middle East – North Africa). During these four days, the contemporary art and design fairs will provide a place and an opportunity for the creative energies of Beirut to flourish and thrive.
