Hasta La Ideas

Architects Pascale Wakim and Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte originally founded Carwan Gallery as a pop-up space in Beirut just two years ago. Insofar as the Salone is an excellent opportunity for Carwan Gallery to further its mission to “encourage students, artisans, designers, and the public at large to connect with each other and the world of design in the Middle East,” they’re presenting “Contemporary Perspectives in Middle Eastern Crafts” at Milan’s Ventura Lambrate district.

With a concept that seeks to expand the vocabulary of traditional crafts, Carwan has commissioned a selection of international designers to create a series of new, limited-edition objects in partnership with local artisans in the Middle East. Each designer’s project encapsulates the re-imagining of a distinct, time-honored craft, where the specialized technique of each artisan has formed the basis for the creation of a new object by the designer. The designers are Karen Chekerdjian (Lebanon), Khalid Shafar (UAE), Lindsey Adelman (USA), Studio mischer’traxler (Austria), Nada Debs (Lebanon), Oeuffice (Canada), Paul Loebach (USA), Philippe Malouin (Canada) and Tamer Nakisci (Turkey).

Milan’s own Oeuffice created “Ziggurat” containers for the show, tapping the expertise of Lebanese craftsmen for the wood inlay of the architectural sculpture (Carwan’s Bellavance-Lecompte and Jakub Zak are behind the collaborative effort). According to the designers, “the form evokes a simplification of traditional Muquarnas found in Middle Eastern architecture, and the inlaid ornamentation renders a new study of scale and an unexpected shift in direction of traditional pattern standards.” The set of eight boxes comes in two color options (shown open below).

Khalid Shafar’s “ARABI” chandelier is a modern pendant lamp composed from “circular handmade wool Egaals, the black headband[s] worn by men in the Arab region to hold the head cover.”

Philippe Malouin’s “Extrusion” series includes bowls, a stool, a tray and a table. The distinctive pattern of each of the gorgeous objects comes from the intarsia process of assembling wood slats; the form is shaped with a lathe. Both techniques are “ancient crafts that originated in the Middle East around 1200 BC.”

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