ADORNO x BEIRUT DESIGN WEEK – Telling the story of Lebanese design

This year, BDW & ADORNO are joining forces to create a new exhibition and collection presenting the best emerging and independent design in Beirut. Established in 2012, Beirut Design Week (BDW) is the first, biggest and fastest-growing design week in the Middle East and North Africa.
BDW’s opening-night show is the place to spot new and exciting emerging design from the region, (with many opening-night exhibitors going on to become major names in both the local and international design scene) but with Adorno’s involvement, this year’s exhibition is set to be bigger and broader in scope than ever.

Commencing today, applications are now open for emerging and independent designers and start-ups in and around Beirut to submit new and unique small-scale or limited-edition work that expresses the distinct modern design culture of Lebanon. Featured designers might come from any discipline – from fashion and furniture to urban and industrial design – but they will have in common excellence in their craft; originality in their thinking; and a focus on sustainable, socially conscious or otherwise responsible design in their approach.
The chosen works will be unveiled on the opening night of Beirut Design Week – the Independent + Emergent exhibition on 22 June – and selected pieces of collectible design from this show will go on to form Adorno’s first Beirut city collection, available to buy online from the 29 June worldwide for 10 months afterward.
The collaboration is built around the theme for this year’s Beirut Design Week: ‘Design and the City’. Beirut is a city in flux; an ever-changing urban landscape where buildings are lost to demolition, freshly discovered ruins shine light on stories dating back millennia, and grassroots organisations are springing up to preserve threatened heritage and actively shape Beirut’s civic, social and political future. The city’s fascinating and chaotic history is proving a wellspring for creativity, with start-ups, local initiatives and educational programmes all contributing to the improvement of Beirut and the communities within it.

Pieces by CocoExotico, Christian Zahr, Toofic Matta, Wyssem Nochi & Rita Kettaneh

Helmed by a newly installed creative director, the designer and Beirut native Ghassan Salameh, Beirut Design Week seeks to nurture and support the city’s resurgent design culture, promote cultural exchange and collaboration, and cement Beirut’s growing reputation as the most exciting design capital in the Middle East. Adorno, whose primary mission is to offer a platform to design communities around the world and a window into the diversity of contemporary creative cultures, is the perfect partner.

Open-call applications will be submitted to a panel of judges; Adorno founder Kristian Snorre Andersen; Joy Mardini, founder of Joy Mardini Design gallery; Ana Dominguez Siemens, the renowned design writer and curator behind Adorno’s Madrid and Barcelona collections; and furniture designer and editor-at- large for Wallpaper* Suzanne Trocmé. As well as the quality, aesthetics, and craftsmanship behind the designs proposed, judges will be looking for work that captures the essence of modern Lebanese design, that makes a positive, life-enhancing contribution to homes or public spaces in city environments, and that embodies the spirit of collaboration and exchange that Beirut Design Week aims to promote.
As well as earning a place in the opening night exhibition, the designers chosen will benefit from technical and manufacturing support from Fabraca Studios, a collaborative, architect-led initiative based in Bauchrieh, Lebanon, which draws on the vision and skill of designers and craftspeople to create bespoke lighting and furniture.

The result will be one of the headlines and highlights of Beirut Design Week 2018, which this year features more than 150 events taking place at more than 100 locations around the city. In the six years that the festival has been running, the opening-night show has been one of the most attended events of one of the world’s most exciting new design weeks – giving local emerging designers a global platform to showcase their talent.
On the final day of BDW, 29 June, Adorno will reveal the collectible-design pieces that have been selected to feature in its inaugural Beirut collection featured at www.adorno.design – ensuring both the 25,000+ festival visitors and design lovers throughout the rest of the world will have the opportunity to discover the best of contemporary design and craft in Lebanon.

‘Beirut has always been referred to as the city of creative export with many individuals succeeding abroad and partake in shaping other cities with their art and design skills. During the past couple of years, and for the first time in our recent history, the city is experiencing a rise in local independent initiatives and movements wanting to reshape our city to become a more just, tolerant and livable space.’

Ghassan Salameh, Managing & Creative Director, Beirut Design Week
More info about the Open Call & Applications can be found on Beirut Design Week’s website >