26 October | 5pm - 9pm
27 - 30 October | 9am - 9pm
31 October | 9am - 6pm
Building 7, Dubai Design District (d3)
Curated and designed by Beirut-born and based designer Rana Salam, ‘Brilliant Beirut’ will be the first attempt to document the development of design in the Lebanese capital over the past seven decades since independence (1950s-2010s), illustrating how the city, with its mélange of cultures, produced world-renowned designers and remains at the forefront of design in the region.
Brilliant Beirut celebrates the rich, diverse and daring designs that have been developed in the capital since the country’s first fully independent decade in 1950 to the present day. Beirut is renowned for being at the vanguard of design. Designers working in Beirut have been at the forefront of introducing to the Arab region new techniques, materials and ways of working. Brilliant Beirut illustrates the timeline of the key players in Beirut’s design history. Lebanese architects in the 1950s and 1960s were some of the first to introduce the modern office building, large multi-use centres and other techniques of the modern movement in architecture and design. The first graphic design department was established in the region at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and this introduced new forms of visual communication and the professionalisation of graphics.
Talk
Friday 30 October | 5.30pm - 7pm
The Atrium, Building 4, Dubai Design District (d3)
An interactive Q&A session with renowned Lebanese designer Rana Salam, curator of Iconic City: Brilliant Beirut, about the development of design in the Lebanon from the 1950s right through to today; key moments and pivotal designers that influenced the city’s reputation and design development; cultural trends in the region; today’s players who maintain Beirut’s status on the international design scene; and role of media in highlighting more Design and Architecture stories from the Lebanon and the wider Middle East.
