Women Take Charge!

Lebanon has a large pool of creative minds and increasingly women are taking center stage. This is especially true for female designers around the age of 40, including Roula Salamoun, Stephanie Moussalem and Carla Baz. Two women in particular paved the way for such successes: Nada Debs and Karen Chekerdjian. They are pioneers – not only because of their success as women designers in a conservative country with a pronounced patriarchal structure like Lebanon. They were also the first designers who (re)discovered Lebanese artisanship in the 1980s and 1990s, melded it with their own ideas, and gave it a contemporary look.

Both Debs and Chekerdjian continue to work in the design business, however no longer solely in Beirut, but also in Dubai and Paris – their respective second homes. After all, nothing in Lebanon is like it was before August 4, 2020. That was the day when a devastating ammonium nitrate explosion in the port of Beirut destroyed targe sections of the city including numerous design studios – at a time when the country was already in a serious political and economic crisis. Among other things the explosion was a severe blow to the city’s creative scene and one from which it has not yet recovered. Almost all of the women designers portrayed here lost all their belongings, and the loss of their studios meant they had to start over again from scratch. Even though some female designers like Tamara Barrage and Carla Baz decided to move abroad after the explosion they still have close ties to their home country. Generally speaking, the members of Beirut’s architecture and design scene tend to be superbly networked. “The creative professionals were always the ones in Lebanon who pushed the boundaries in a country that is very conservative and religious,” comments graphic designer and creative writer Philippe Ghabayen, who is familiar with the scene.

In Lebanon designing furniture, luminaires and accessories primarily means working to create editions. As there are no leading manufacturing companies in the country, industrial design as we know it in Europe basically does not exist. This is why designers sell most of their output through their own web shops, via (international) galleries and trade fairs, or as one-off items manufactured for specific projects. Many of them are employed mainly as interior designers and architects and work for private clients or are commissioned by restaurants and hotels. Given the uncertain circumstances currently prevailing it is crucial for female designers to have backing from their families if they wish to remain financially independent in their work.

As the state and state organizations have long since ceased to operate, the design scene is also increasingly dependent on the engagement of NGOs – which can provide financial or organizational assistance, or at least visibility on the (international) design scene. There are several NGOs founded by women in Beirut which deal directly or indirectly with design and offer designers specific support. For example, “House of Today” not only provides Lebanese designers with a public platform at fairs and events, but also finds work for artisans or manufactories and assists with the distribution of their designs. “House of Today” was set up by interior designer Magrabi Tayeb; she actually works in the family business, a chain of opticians with 200 outlets.

In November 2022 they presented at a large booth at the “Downtown Dubai” trade fair – among other things with works by the Lebanese women designers Stephanie Moussalem and Roula Salamoun. One objective behind exhibiting at the fair was “to gain a foothold in the Middle East market,” explains Mattia Tebasti who positions the NGO thematically together with Charbel Abi Azar. Two years ago it was “House of Today” that enabled Moussalem, one of Lebanon’s most successful designers right now, to embark on a work and research trip to Naples, Italy. It was in collaboration with artisans there that the Moussalem’’s “Shades of Napoli“ luminaire collection was created; it went on public display for the first time during the “Edit Napoli” design event. “We appreciate that it is important for designers to travel,” says Tebasti. "Because the economic situation in Lebanon is getting worse and worse we award grants, arrange contacts and support designers in manufacturing their objects.”

Other NGOs are also increasingly involving female designers in their work, albeit only indirectly. Although they are often not paid for their designs (given that the NGOs serve different purposes), they do at least benefit from greater visibility. For example, Pascal Habis and Zeina Raphael – founders of “The Ready Hand” NGO, are currently collaborating with designers like Paola Sakr and Tatiana Akl to produce a collection of design objects set to be auctioned for a good cause in London in the autumn. With her “Beit el Baraka” non-profit, Maya Chams Ibrahimchah supports older people and families in Lebanon. Beit Kanz is part of the organization – a restored historic villa in downtown Beirut which has been converted into a restaurant and two stores. In one of the shops Lebanese design objects are sold for a charitable purpose. Under the supervision of curator Hala Moubarak a collection is currently being produced in collaboration with Lebanese artisans and will be launched in mid-November 2023. Also on board are Lebanese women designers such as Céline and Tatiana Stephan from “Architectures et Mécanismes”. And the city is eagerly awaiting a design event to be held at the end of October: “We Design Beirut”. Dubbed by its organizers a ‘design experience’, it will include an exhibition curated by Joy Mardini and William Wehbe in Villa Mokbel, which was badly damaged by the explosion. And naturally a couple of old familiar (female) faces will attend as well as a few young talented designers: Nada Debs, Karen Chekerdjian, Roula Salamoun, Sabine Skayem and Bruna Teeny from Ýakin Design, as well as Maria Yared.

Architect and designer Roula Salamoun shares her studio in Beirut’s Hamra district with her father, a civil engineer with whom she also sometimes collaborates. Entering the building which dates from the 1970s is like embarking on a journey back in time. Salamoun has two rooms to call her own: an office with a stone brise soleil so typical for Beirut and the studio proper. Prototypes and material samples are arranged in display units and on desks. The designer’s love of experimentation is obvious. Salamoun also enjoys looking beyond the area of classic product design as shown by her cooperation with the Lebanese restaurant chain “Em Sherif” for which she designed date-filled cookies known in Lebanon as maamoul. Their unusual shape is inspired by Salamoun’s furniture designs such as the “Archipelago Chair” and the “Strata Table”. Like most creative professionals in Lebanon, Salamoun has considered leaving the crisis-ridden country. However, she says she has a lot of commissions in Lebanon and her objects are also produced there – so she wants to stay she tells us during a conversation at the legendary Sporting Club in Beirut. Currently, Salamoun is working on her presentation in Villa Mokbel, which will coincide with the “We Design Beirut” event at the end of October. For the presentation she plans to add new shapes and colors to her existing collections.

Although Carla Baz now lives in Dubai, she still has close ties to Beirut’s design scene. Her elegant, sophisticated designs such as furniture and luminaires are hand-crafted in Lebanon from materials such as brass, natural stone and, satinized glass. With her “Neo-Oriental Boudoir” installation presented last fall in Abu Dhabi she demonstrated that her talents as a designer extend to several disciplines, something she owes to her education. Now in her mid-thirties, Baz studied Interior Design in Paris and Product Design at the ECAL in Lausanne and has worked for both Zaha Hadid and Vivienne Westwood. The objects of this talented designer are made by artisans in Lebanon; one such product is "Oyster", an elegant, minimalist wall-mounted luminaire fashioned from brass and satinized glass. Another item of elaborate manufacture is the “Monarch” table lamp, which has a very opulent appearance thanks to the use of natural stones such as Guatemala Verde, Rosso Alicante, and Tala Marron. “Indira” a boutique guest house recently opened in Kfour, Lebanon: It was once her parents’ home and Carla Baz collaborated with Carole Tarazi Nasnas on its eclectic interior design.

Like Carla Baz, fellow designer Stephanie Moussalem is also currently engaged in a project about Lebanese dining, which design expert Hala Moubarak is curating for “Beit el Baraka”. Having worked for several years for Karim Chaya and Spock Design, in 2015 the interior and product designer opened her own studio in Beirut. Like many Lebanese designers Moussalem works across various disciplines – and moves between interior design projects and collectible design. She is especially interested in artisanal techniques and materials like wood and glass as demonstrated by her “Shades of Napoli” luminaire collection, which came about in collaboration with “Made in Cloister”, “Edit Napoli” and “House of Today”. In realizing the project, Moussalem delved deep into traditional Napolitan craft techniques and the culture of the city.

This designer is another good example of how crucial sponsored work trips are for the creative development of designers, for networking, and achieving international visibility. Last summer thanks to funding from “House of Today” Barrage spent several weeks in Austria, where she and five other designers worked with glass. This May, she presented the fruits of her labors there in an exhibition at Hollenegg Castle: two enormous candlesticks which were produced in the Viennese glass workshop of Studio Comploj. Now resident in Dubai, the Lebanese designer, who studied Contextual Design at the Design Academy Eindhoven, is particularly interested in the tactile and sensory properties of various materials and often operates on the boundaries of art in her projects. In cooperation with “House of Today” and other designers such as Nada Debs and Shirine Sbaiti, Barrage is currently working on a candle collection, which will be showcased in October 2023 on the occasion of “We Design Beirut”.

We recently met Sibylle Tarazi for the re-opening of the Sursock Museum, which was badly damaged in the explosion. Several objects by Lebanese designers are on sale in the museum shop including her Semperviren design – a set of three organically- shaped interlocking marble trays. The designer often works with natural stone such as onyx, travertine or marble and tells us that since the beginning of the crisis production has become much more difficult in Lebanon and many artisans have already left the country. Tarazi designs intricately crafted one-of-a-kind pieces for private clients. Her work reveals her artistic background – she studied Graphic Design and Fine Arts at the American University of Beirut and jewelry design at the Domus Academy in Milan. This explains the presence of gold-plated brass insects adorning the tables and mirrors she has designed.