We Design Beirut 2024

Details

We Design Beirut is a platform dedicated to showcasing the very best of Arab and regional design. The four-day inaugural event will be staged in Beirut, Lebanon from May 23 – 26, ’24.
The event aims to celebrate and promote design and creativity through a rich and impactful multidisciplinary program that aims not only to showcase the very best and most innovative design creativity and talent, but to also create a global dialogue on design and sustainability that will translate to a network and eventually an ecosystem that would benefit everyone involved.

The programs include the Villa Audi serving as the Hub of Preservation and housing the exhibition “Past Echoes: A Journey through Middle Eastern Product Design” curated by Babylon– The Agency, founded by Joy Mardini and William Wehbe, in addition to a number of installations and popups.

Additionally, We Design Beirut announced two new City Exhibitions, the first of which; is renowned product designer Studio Nada Debs with a special showcase at her studio in Gemmayze, Beirut, presenting SWIRLMANIA; a series of over 20 handcrafted occasional tables, aptly named Swirl. Each piece in the collection is meticulously crafted using various craft techniques.
Also joining the City Exhibitions is a subjective recount of Khalil Khouri’s life and career as a designer titled “All things must(‘nt) pass", curated by acclaimed architect Bernard Khoury along with his son Teymour Khoury. It takes place at the iconic Interdesign building, one of the late Khalil Khouri’s most internationally respected works.

Finally, the Hub of Empowerment PSLab will host a showcase titled “Vision from Beirut”, an exhibition project by esteemed architect Karim Nader with Belgian photographer Julien Lanoo, paying homage to the city’s past while envisioning a hopeful future.

The event, founded by Mariana Wehbe, in partnership with industrial designer Samer Alameen and visual communications studio Bananamonkey and managed by Head of Projects Ghady Azar, plans to activate the entire city by lighting up; thanks to our main sponsor Unilux, and providing access to some of the most impressive and culturally important monuments Beirut has to offer.
We Design Beirut’s hub of sustainability at the Abroyan Factory will explore the future of global design in collaboration with a number of Lebanese universities and experienced personalities in the field. With the intention of providing a younger generation of designers in Lebanon with the opportunity to showcase their work, and the possibilities of a better sustainable future.