Designing the Middle East: Beirut

31 May - 19 July '13

‘Designing the Middle East: Beirut’ features for the first time in the UK, the work of Lebanese designer, Karen Chekerdjian.

Chekerdjian set up her studio in 2001, which organically evolved from a conceptual think-tank to a production-oriented entity, focusing on the making of furniture and everyday objects.

Chekerdjian’s work falls into a category of its own, one that could be called ‘Industrial Handicrafts’. Unmoored from time thanks to their blend of traditional manufacturing techniques and industrial aesthetics, Karen’s designs are distinctly Lebanese and yet also international. As much at home in a traditional Levantine house as they would be in a minimalist interior, they are idiosyncratic reflections of the spirit of Beirut, the city in which they are created.

19 Greek Street owner and Creative Director Marc Péridis comments;

‘Designing the Middle East: Beirut’ is further celebration of this region’s unique approach to creativity despite the restraints in fully realising a project, which demonstrate how contemporary design responds to its contextual surroundings without losing its universal power’.

www.19greekstreet.com

Derbakeh, pouf and yoyo by Karen Chekerdjian

Petite Vague by Karen Chekerdjian

Wing Stool & Side Table by Karen Chekerdjian

Yoyo by Karen Chekerdjian

Platform C red by Karen Chekerdjian

Hiroshima copper by Karen Chekerdjian

Cookie Paper by Karen Chekerdjian

Elephant armchair by Karen Chekerdjian

Papillon Valsecchi by Karen Chekerdjian