Organised by co-founders Guillaume Taslé d’Héliand and Hala Moubarak the Beirut Design Fair’s second edition (20-23 September) at the Seaside Arena is already garnering international attention for its exhibitors and expanded international platform.
Hala Moubarak, Co-founder and Creative & Design Director said: ‘Beirut Design Fair’s first edition, in 2017, was of a Lebanese character, but the strategic objective is to also exhibit works from galleries and designers from all over the world, with both local and international designs emanating from creative unique pieces of products and furniture. The Beirut Design Fair’s core belief is that the Lebanese design scene is deeply rooted, pluralistic, dynamic, connected to the contemporary world, and in permanent reinvention’.
Welcoming 60 exhibitors and 150 designers, their 2018 edition will have European galleries represented, as well as top events sponsored by international brands.
One of the most anticipated events will be the Beirut premiere of The Perfect Light. Brought to the fair by id and iGuzzini, The Beirut premiere will be 22 September at the Seaside Arena, as part of the official programme of the fair.
Light Collective, the creative lighting consultancy based in UK, will be in attendance at the events to present the film and discuss light with the audience. The documentary, supported by Citizen, has thus far been screened in London, Berlin, Milan, New York, Paris, Milan, Sao Paolo, Reykjavic and Zurich.
The film addresses the function and reception of LEDs, as they have superseded all other sources and potentially rendered them obsolete. They ask: is LED therefore, the perfect light? The documentary gives voice to over 20 top leading lighting designers with the mission of further questioning the development of light and exploring the definition of the perfect light.
Speaking to the character of the Beirut Design Fair’s second edition, Moubarak went on to say, ‘For this year, the scenography and museography effects, which are part of the fair’s DNA, are made by the worldwide reputed architect Galal Mahmoud, a true Beirut Design Fair enthusiast and ally. And in addition to providing ‘SpotOn!’ opportunities for young talents, Beirut Design Fair activates the relationship between design and manufacture, thus promoting a microeconomic ecosystem of its own with spillover into the country’s macro economy, let alone ramifying positively into the social sphere’.
