While it is often said that design talent in Lebanon is plentiful, a substantial percentage of this talent could be going to waste because of the lack of free design education in Lebanon. Enter Sarah Hermez, a Parsons School of Design graduate, and her former Parsons professor Caroline Simonelli, who together founded Creative Space Beirut (CSB). CSB describes itself on its website as “a free school in fashion design providing quality creative design education to talented individuals who lack the resources to pursue a degree at increasingly costly institutions of higher learning.”

An idea is born

Hermez says that she has always been passionate about both creativity and social justice. This led her to move to New York (after growing up mainly in Kuwait) to pursue a double major in fashion design at Parsons and Arts in Context at Eugene Lang College. When she came to live in Lebanon, she hoped to find a way to combine the two passions into one career. “I decided to move to Lebanon because I’m Lebanese and had never lived here before. I wanted to understand what it was to be Lebanese, and also there’s so much work to be done here in Lebanon,” she explains. 

Hermez finally found a way to merge her interests after a conversation she was having with Simonelli, who suggested that she start a free school for fashion design, an idea which made perfect sense to Hermez. “What happens when you go to a tuition based school, like Parsons, is that the tuition is so expensive, it stops becoming about how talented you are and starts becoming about how much you can pay. Most of the talented people can’t afford such universities, and the people that graduate don’t necessarily have to be that talented,” says Hermez.

The beginnings

In 2011 at the age of 24, Hermez set out to establish Creative Space Beirut. She visited refugee camps, community centers, and NGOs in order to convince people to join the free design school. “People were intrigued because I wasn’t attached to an organization. I was just a girl with an idea, although I had Caroline to give me credibility,” she recounts, adding that despite the interest, many parents didn’t want their children to leave their area to come to Beirut, so it took her a while to find five people — which is the average number of students CSB takes per class in order to provide an intimate learning experience — who could commit to the school.

[pullquote]What happens when you go to a tuition based school, like Parsons, is that the tuition is so expensive, it stops becoming about how talented you are and starts becoming about how much you can pay[/pullquote]

How it works

Although the program is fluid in that it is not tied down to a curriculum, it is still very rigorous, with students attending daily classes on weekdays for three years. “It’s a very intense program, but it really gives them an idea of how the fashion industry works and shows them how difficult it is and how hardworking you have to be. It’s a very realistic education in that they are working but also learning at the same time. When you’re not limited to curriculums and bureaucracy, you have more leeway to experiment,” she says.

To give first hand experience and to help sustain costs, the school started a brand called CSB Ready-to-Wear. “The idea with this brand is we produce things, and then we sell them, and the money goes to the school so that we can sustain the program,” explains Hermez, adding that as the label grows they will be hiring more of their graduates to work for it.

Other means through which funds are raised for CSB, which is a non-profit, are donations, individual sponsors who give scholarships to students, fundraising parties, and exhibitions at the end of the year, in which students’ designs are sold. “We’re in survival mode all the time. Having a non-profit is the hardest thing you can do because you are constantly trying to raise funds,” says Hermez.

After graduation

Six years since its creation, CSB has already graduated one class and will graduate another in November 2017.

Aside from an education, CSB also helps ensure their graduates have access to the network needed to develop a good career. “What we offer our students is not only education, we also provide them with the networks that we have to be able to get job interviews because these are students that otherwise wouldn’t have the connections. Our job also is to provide them with the right network to enter the fashion industry, which is very exclusive,” says Hermez, explaining that graduates can work for a CSB brand, start their own label, or work for a designer. 

Looking ahead, and once the fashion design program is comfortably sustained, CSB hopes to be able to build other programs within the design industry, also for free. “This should be offered for free by the government, but we don’t have a functional government,” concludes Hermez. 

Hussein Bazaza did not grow up wanting to be a fashion designer, although he has loved sketching dresses since he was a child. “Everyone who knew me thought I would be a great fashion designer, but I never wanted to be one,” he recalls, noting instead his interest in interior design or filmmaking.

After finishing high school, however, and with his mother’s encouragement, he joined ESMOD Beirut. Although the first year was a struggle for Bazaza — he felt out of place because he was not as well versed in the fashion world as his peers — he ended up learning a lot and loving fashion design.

Upon graduating at the top of his class in 2011, he won internships with both Rabih Keyrouz in Paris, and Elie Saab in Beirut (both of whom are well-known Lebanese designers and creators of internationally acclaimed fashion houses). Three days into his internship with Elie Saab, he was offered a full time job at the company, which helped him learn the practical aspects of fashion design.

Eight months into that job, Bazaza left to join Starch, a non-profit organization that helps launch Lebanese emerging designers. According to its site, “ Starch is an annual program and a rotation of debut collections where four to six young designers are selected each year.” It was there that he started working on developing himself as a brand. “I had already planned on starting my own label when Starch was over and was saving the money I was making from selling my collection in Starch toward opening my own showroom and atelier,” explains Bazaza.

[pullquote]Lebanese don’t have confidence in their own designers, which is ironic because they are highly valued internationally[/pullquote]

At Starch, Bazaza learned a lot about how clients think and what they were looking for in their clothing, which helped him in his designs. During his time at Starch, he and the other designers were invited to participate in Fashion Forward Dubai for the first time through a free fashion show with Rabih Keyrouz (co-founder of Starch). 

“There was a lot of exposure in terms of press and buyers, and that helped us a lot especially in expanding our client base in the Gulf and making sales,” says Bazaza.

After completing the fashion incubator’s yearlong program in 2014, Bazaza set out to achieve his goal of establishing his own space and atelier, having already launched his own label and garnered clients through Starch.

As a young designer just starting out, Bazaza says he ran into some challenges. To begin with, he did not have any experience running a business (while today fashion design schools do offer classes in business, ESMOD Beirut did not when he was a student there).

He also started out alone and was basically a one-man team, largely because of his limited budget. “I had no employees at the beginning, so I had to do everything by myself. Later on, I hired one employee, and the rest of the team developed six months later (today Bazaza has six employees). This was determined by the brand’s growth, but also by how much I was able to afford to pay salaries,” he explains.

This was overwhelming for Bazaza, especially since the brand’s reputation, through unsolicited media coverage, was growing at a fast rate. “I had to be everything myself, and I felt pressured because people thought the brand was much bigger than it was. I had more requests than I could cope with,” he recounts.

Limited startup funds posed another challenge for Bazaza because, as a fashion designer, he had to produce a new collection for every season. “I didn’t have any investors, and there are very few investors in fashion in Lebanon anyway, so I had to pay for everything related to a new collection from my profits,” he says, explaining that his revenues had to be divided between salaries, rents, expenses, materials, and photoshoots for the collection.

Three years into his business, and as the Hussein Bazaza brand grows, Bazaza says things have become a lot easier. “With time, this got better because my number of clients increased. I also started doing bridal wear and this brings in significant revenue. Before, we also didn’t have a lot of boutiques ordering [the ready to wear line], while today we have boutique orders from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, which also helps in revenue increase,” he explains.

Bazaza says that his focus is on developing his brand as a product and not his name as a designer. “I want to be a brand found in major department stores more than I want to be a fashion designer who does couture for clients,” he says, explaining that he does couture because it rakes in revenue, but he prefers working on his ready-to-wear line, which is available in his showroom in Lebanon and in boutiques in the Gulf.

Bazaza sees some advantages to being a designer working out of Lebanon, the most important being the positive image of Lebanese designers in the region and internationally. However, he has not forgotten the difficulties he faced at the beginning and believes more could be done at the governmental level to encourage and facilitate the work of fashion design startups like his own. “One of the simple things the government can support this sector with is making the official procedures and bureaucratic paperwork related to establishing a company simpler or clearer for young designers like me,” he says. 

He also wishes that the Lebanese exhibited more pride in their country’s local designers, recounting how many local boutiques refuse to carry clothes made by young Lebanese designers. “Lebanese don’t have confidence in their own designers, which is ironic because they are highly valued internationally,” he muses.

From as far back as he can remember, Rami Kadi has been passionate about the art of embroidery and other traditional craft skills. This passion ultimately led him to choose fashion design as a career path and so he enrolled at ESMOD Beirut, graduating in 2008.

Following his graduation, Kadi worked with Rabih Kayrouz and was soon after selected to showcase his first collection at Starch Foundation. He recalls the experience as being extremely successful, resulting in lots of appreciative clientele.

Speaking of the value of his education in ESMOD versus his experience with Kayrouz and Starch, Kadi evokes the talent versus education debate and says: “It’s obviously very important and crucial to have an education and learn all the appropriate techniques when you’re planning to practice any job. When it comes to fashion, learning all the techniques is even more important and amounts to 50 percent of your experience: How can you design, choose the fabrics, and oversee the sewing if you haven’t learnt the basics? However, I also think that you’re born with a passion for fashion, a natural skill that engulfs your whole creativity, mind, and life. It’s called ‘mawhabe’ [talent] in Arabic,” he says.

Kadi, who launched his own brand in 2011 at the age of 25, says he has chosen to focus only on his couture or made-to-wear line for now. As with the other designers Executive interviewed, his main clients come from the Gulf. “Currently the Gulf is my biggest market, I guess it’s the case for all couture designers generally speaking. Women of the Gulf are very much ahead in terms of fashion; they know exactly what they want, they have a strong expertise in this field, and they love to dress up. Weddings in the Gulf are like red carpet events, you can see all the latest trends and couture dresses!” enthuses Kadi.

Since his focus is on couture alone, the only international platform available to him is Paris Couture Week. The young designer held his first fashion show there in 2014 and says the most important part of the experience was getting to meet the international fashion press and experts in the field. “It definitely gives more credibility to my brand,” says Kadi.

Kadi today has an atelier of 40 tailors and ten other employees across three main departments, from operations to marketing to sales. According to him, Lebanon has highly skilled tailors and craftspeople. “We definitely have a high level of craftspeople, they’re qualified and have a strong savoir-faire. I’m always impressed by what they can achieve in every collection, and the amount of hours they spend on each dress. Each dress takes about 1,200 hours of craftsmanship, and this really needs experts in the field,” he explains.

Kadi says he does not feel he will relocate out of Lebanon, but would consider opening a showroom in Paris, as it would make him more accessible to the international influencers and the celebrities that he dresses. “The hardest part [about working out of Lebanon] is getting to reach the international influencers and fitting them for special events,” says Kadi, explaining that celebrity endorsements are a must for brand awareness and adds “glamour to their image.”

The advantage of having an atelier in Lebanon, other than the talent, is having the freedom to experiment. “Lebanon is my hometown, what is better than operating from your own country and speaking the same language of your co-workers? Lebanon is also a laboratoire in fashion, you have so many different types of women; it’s stimulating!” concludes Kadi.

Jean Louis’s father, Jean Sabaji, was a fashion designer who was most known for being the personal designer of the Saudi royal family.

As such, Sabaji’s earliest memories were of being in his father’s atelier (which is his now that his father has passed) surrounded by fabrics and mannequins. “From when I was a child, it was as if I was on a mission to be a designer. This was my destiny, and I’m very happy I took this path because it’s in my blood,” recounts Sabaji.

After finishing his high school education, Sabaji enrolled at Lebanese American University to study graphic design, graduating in 2009. He then attended the Milan Domus Academy for his master’s degree in fashion design. Recalling his experience in Milan, Sabaji says that his childhood background in fashion design gave him an advantage over his peers,  since he was already familiar with many technical aspects and terms in fashion design.

However, Sabaji does not overlook the value of his education in shaping him as a designer. “I could’ve learned here in my father’s atelier [through training alone], but what a formal education adds to your experience is a way of thinking,” he says.

Sabaji explains that his education also helped him develop his own style, which was purely Eastern before he went to Milan. “When I went there, they helped me refine that [Eastern] direction and add a European touch to it, so now my direction is more a fusion of both,” says Sabaji, wondering if it is that mix of European and Eastern tastes that many Lebanese designers have, which makes them such successful designers internationally.

After completing his degree, Sabaji came back to Lebanon to start his own couture label. He set up camp in his father’s atelier with his team of 40 employees, this was the main reason he chose to work out of Lebanon. “What’s nice about couture is that it’s based on the old school seamstresses that bead the dresses by hand. For me, that is the advantage of being in Lebanon because I already have this team/family which I inherited from my father and continued with,” he says.

Yet, Sabaji’s skilled team is reaching retirement age and replacing them will be challenging. “During my father’s generation, almost everybody was a seamstress, while today there are a lot fewer [of them]. If you look for them, you can find them, but it’s like searching for precious stones,” says Sabaji. To ensure the continuity of his business, he is having his current team train younger hires, who he says do not need to be skilled in atelier work, but must have the desire to learn.

Despite the advantage of having a good team, Sabaji says that there are challenges to operating in Lebanon, including having to import almost all of the raw material he needs.

The economic situation is also a challenge in that many Lebanese cannot afford Sabaji’s designs. “The economic situation in Lebanon has affected the purchasing power of Lebanese women. I would love to have more Lebanese women as clients, but the majority of my couture clients are from the Gulf,” he says.

Sabaji’s first international fashion show was Fashion Forward Dubai four years ago, an experience he says opened up the Gulf market to him. “Before my participation in FFD, my market was basically in Saudi Arabia because of my father, but afterwards I got many clients from Qatar, UAE, and Kuwait,” says Sabaji.

Internationally, Sabaji also has clients from Russia and Greece, garnered following the social media recognition he received after dressing celebrities for the red carpet.

Thus far, Sabaji’s focus has been on couture and bridal lines, but he says that he will be launching his ready-to-wear line in December and opening his own boutique. “I didn’t start ready-to-wear earlier because we were taught that fashion is top bottom so you start with couture and build your name that way. So when you do the ready-to-wear line, you already have a name for yourself, and those that couldn’t afford your couture line now find you accessible,” explains Sabaji, adding that financially he finds ready-to-wear more viable than couture since he can sell more of the former due to its affordability.

Sabaji believes that internationally famous Lebanese designers have made it easier for young designers like himself to penetrate the international markets owing to the strong reputation they have built for themselves and the country.

Yet, Sabaji warns his fellow young designers against becoming “copy/paste” versions of those famous designers. “As young designers, and to keep the good name of the country which was built by the likes of Elie and Zuhair, we should revolutionize and modernize the fashion industry. We have to carve our own path,” he says, explaining that in his own designs he is daring and unique, and has thereby established a niche market for himself — which will hopefully continue for years to come. 

Sandra Mansour says she has always been drawn to art and creation. So after completing her BA in business, she decided to go for a master’s degree in fashion design in Paris, and she has not looked back since.

After completing her master’s degree, Mansour worked for Elie Saab before launching her own brand. She believes that both her education and her experience with Saab shaped the process of her becoming a designer. “It gave me the platform and ability to create pieces stemming from an artistic background — that brings together my love for drawing with my love for creating and designing,” says Mansour, explaining that she now takes on summer interns, as she believes this hands-on experience gained at an atelier is essential for budding designers.

Mansour had her first international appearance in 2010 at Paris Fashion Week. She explains that such a high visibility platform gave her brand more exposure and created brand awareness.

Mansour designs a ready-to-wear line of evening dresses and makes made-to-order wedding gowns. While she says the bridal gowns are more financially viable than ready-to-wear, she explains that having the ability to provide both services allows clients the flexibility to purchase dresses for any occasion, therefore developing a loyal clientele.

Today, Mansour works from an atelier in Lebanon with a team of 20, including 12 tailors whom she describes as “highly skilled.”

Mansour sees the quality of craftsmanship in Lebanon as an advantage to working in the country. “Our atelier and workshop are located in Beirut with a Lebanese workforce of highly qualified craftsmen, which is a vital selling point for our international affiliates. Lebanese tailors are some of the best in the world, they have a skill passed down from generation to generation, and therefore they excel in the craft,” she states.

While Mansour says that she might consider expanding her presence, depending on their growth and strategy, she would not relocate from Lebanon. “Beirut is my hometown, and at this point I don’t see any reason to relocate,” she says.

Mansour says her biggest markets are the US, Middle East, and GCC. “These markets respond very well toward our designs, and most of our recurrent clientele come from them,” explains Mansour. She believes that designers like Elie Saab and others have paved the way for the industry in Lebanon, giving credibility to the potential and craftsmanship of Lebanese designers. 

In 1982, Abed Mahfouz starting working with his sister designing evening gowns and got his first taste of creating his own designs that way. In 1995, he decided to branch out with his own brand.

While Mahfouz initially showcased his collections locally through fashions shows at venues such as the Al Bustan Hotel in Broummana, or the Phoenicia Hotel Beirut, his first international appearance was in Milan in 2000.

Following the fashion show in Milan, Mahfouz approached the then president of AltaRoma, Fashion Week Rome, to display his collection with them. “I went alone with no appointment or support from anyone, but I convinced him with my passion and promise of commitment to AltaRoma,” recalls Mahfouz, explaining that before him it was not very common for Lebanese fashion designers to participate in AltaRoma, so the then president was reluctant at first.

However, Mahfouz quickly proved himself in Rome and developed a strong presence in the eternal city. “I chose Rome because I felt valued there, and I built a name for myself. I did the best fashion shows of my career there,” he says.

After 15 years of shows in Rome, and two years in Paris afterwards, Mahfouz pulled out of AltaRoma and decided to concentrate his efforts on Lebanon and the region, returning to Beirut in 2015.

Even while showcasing his work in Rome, Mahfouz’s atelier has always been in Lebanon, which he says is perceived as a prestigious location for fashion production by the Gulf, where the majority of his clients hail from. “Our clients brag among their friends when they have their dresses done in Lebanon. Lebanese designers are dressing celebrities and influencers, and this has a big effect on the way they are perceived regionally and internationally,” Mahfouz says.

In trying to explain this allure of Lebanese designers, especially in the region, Mahfouz starts with what he calls their good taste and creativity. “In the region, and because of this boom in Lebanese fashion designers, they are now the trendsetters, and we can see their influence on the fashion industry in general. This is because of their good taste, but also because of the quality of their work and their creativity in developing modern designs, which the region appreciates,” he says.

The region is indeed appreciative of Lebanese designers, while European designers have only recently woke up to the lucrative potential of clients from the Gulf and begun catering their designs to their tastes, according to Mahfouz. “Previously, Europeans were not very strong in embroidery and the style of design preferred by the Gulf. But if you look at the world today those that buy the most luxury products are from the Gulf, China, or Russia. So the European designers are now catering to the Gulf market; for example Dolce & Gabbana is making abayas and Valentino is designing higher necklines to serve this part of the world which has a high purchasing power. Meanwhile, the Lebanese designers already have a touch of that style in their designs,” he elaborates.

Another aspect which differentiates Lebanese fashion designers from their European counterparts, according to Mahfouz, is the quality of service they provide to couture clients. “When you go to an atelier of a fashion designer in Lebanon, it’s unlike the service you get anywhere else in the world. When a woman pays a large amount for a couture dress, she’s also buying the service of dressmaking, and she wants to feel pampered and catered to as an individual,” elaborates Mahfouz.

Despite the advantages Mahfouz cites for working in Lebanon, and the level of comfort and familiarity he enjoys in his home country, he believes the political instabilities of the past five years have negatively impacted his business.

Since his workshop is in Downtown Beirut, it was in close proximity to the 2013 Starco bombing, in addition to numerous demonstrations and sit-ins. This not only hindered Mahfouz’s access to his work; his atelier also suffered from material damage when the 2013 assassination of ex-finance minister Mohamad Chatah occurred directly below it.

[pullquote]Lebanese fashion designers, they are now the trendsetters, and we can see their influence on the fashion industry in general[/pullquote]

The decrease in touristic activity during the last six years also put a strain on Mahfouz’s availability to his clients from the Gulf. “When the Arabs used to come here it was much easier and faster to design for them. Instead of the three days it takes to finish a dress when they are here, it takes me three weeks when I go visit them as there is a lot of back and forth, not to mention additional expenses,” says Mahfouz, explaining that demand for couture dresses decreased by 80 percent because of this.

As a result, Mahfouz has downsized his team of 120 employees to 45 and says he is taking over a large number of tasks himself. He continues to focus on his couture and bridal lines, but says that his ready-to-wear line is more financially accessible and widespread (being available in points of sale in the United States and Europe), and therefore brings in more revenues and helps him stay afloat during this period.

Georges Chakra initially began his studies in interior design during the Lebanese Civil War, but decided to switch to fashion design because, he says, he wanted to do something “out of the ordinary.” Studying fashion design was uncommon at the time, and Chakra says even his parents were not very accepting of his choice. It was so uncommon that there were no fashion design programs in the country back then, and Chakra moved to Toronto to continue his education, returning to Lebanon in 1985 to begin working on his brand.

Chakra says that operating during that period  stretched the limits of his creativity. “You had to make do with what was present in Lebanon in terms of material and equipment because the airport was closed. But this led to designers being more innovative in their work. They had to figure out how to use the found materials in a way to make it appealing enough to sell. But we succeeded,” he recalls.

And succeed he did. In a time when social media did not exist, and traditional broadcast media (TV/radio) was unreliable due to power cuts, word of mouth was king. Chakra’s creative designs swiftly made their mark, eliciting a positive reception. “Because I studied abroad, I acquired a European style of design that appealed to the Lebanese, who also have a bit of European taste,” he says. “There was an almost instant appreciation for my work.”

While at first most of his clients were Lebanese, Chakra says he also acquired many clients from the Gulf through word of mouth from Lebanese women who would be wearing his designs while traveling through the region.

Following the war, Chakra’s business continued to grow, and he held multiple fashion shows in Lebanon. His international fame began when he participated in Paris Couture Week for the first time with his 2001-2002 collection after encouragement from his clients.

Chakra has been showcasing his collections at Paris Couture Week twice a year ever since, and made his first appearance at the Mercedes Benz Pret a Porter Week in New York in 2009 (continuing for five seasons until 2011). “Being present in such platforms benefits everything from sales to marketing because of the exposure we get from them. You’re among colleagues. You can’t be a competitor on the international scene if you’re not in these shows,” explains Chakra.

Chakra’s main atelier is in Beirut, in addition to a showroom for appointments and fittings in Paris. While he worked in Toronto as a fashion designer for two and a half years, he prefers working out of Lebanon for several reasons.

“We have convenience of services here that we don’t have abroad. It’s the little things,” he says, such as the building’s concierge carrying bags up or postal services being accommodating of the unpredictable delivery hours his atelier keeps. Chakra also enjoys the stable and mild weather in Lebanon, as well as its proximity to Europe, which makes commuting between his two work spaces easier.

While Chakra experiences some difficulties working out of Lebanon, he says he has largely learned to work around these issues. “I created my own world and [chose] the people I work with, so there aren’t too many challenges. But, for example, customs at the airport is always a hassle. They stop the crates of material we want to bring into the country and take time to process their entry, which delays our work. It’s chaotic and there are no set procedures to follow, which is a challenge as well,” he laments.

Chakra has a team of a 100 employees, around 80 of whom are tailors, and many have been with him for 20 years, that includes skilled seamstresses and embroiderers, though Chakra is saddened by the fact that nothing is being done to preserve their skills. “We have employees who have been with us for 20 years and have a lot of experience. But the challenge we and many designers are facing is that those people — who largely gained their experience through training and have no formal education — haven’t passed their skills onto their children or the younger generation,” he says.

This is because being a seamstress is not viewed as a prestigious job in Lebanon, and those who do work in this domain today envision a better future for their children, and so do not pass their skills on to them, Chakra says.   

This poses a real challenge for Lebanese designers who today are hiring foreign workers to keep their work running. Chakra believes more should be done to raise awareness among underprivileged youth about this career option. “This industry should be promoted by training unemployed workers to do these jobs and make a living. There should be more awareness raised on the different jobs in an atelier and more incentives for people to take them up, but I don’t know if this should be the work of NGOs or the government,” concludes Chakra.

“It’s an exciting time to launch a fashion design program in Lebanon because of what is happening in design. Whether it’s Mar Mikhael’s little boutiques, or the designers who are just starting out with unpredictable, yet exciting futures ahead of them, or the young Lebanese designers whose names are shining abroad, there’s an energy and talent that is motivated,” enthuses Yasmine Taan, chair of the Department of Art & Design at the Lebanese American University (LAU).

Indeed, success stories of Lebanese designers have become more common over the past decade, and it seems the design industry is finally getting some of the recognition it deserves — although there is still a long way to go.

Carving a path

When it comes to fashion design, names like Elie Saab, Zuhair Murad, and Georges Chakra are role models for a younger generation, who through their international fame, saw fashion design as a viable and prestigious career path.

As such, interest in fashion design education rose with more universities introducing degree programs. “I would say that the ready-to-wear community in Lebanon is definitely growing. There are more fashion design programs being built: LAU just graduated their first class, you have ESMOD, you have ALBA (Académie Libanaise des Beaux-arts) starting its program, you have us … There is definitely a new generation of graduating fashion design students that are about to enter the design market in Lebanon, and its very interesting to see where it will go,” muses Sarah Hermez, co-founder of Creative Space Beirut, a free fashion design school.

Size matters

Starting out in the fashion design industry in a small country like Lebanon has an advantage in that one can quickly build a brand. “The positive thing about building a brand here is that if you have the right network, it’s an easier start because when you are in a small community and everybody knows everybody, you can work together to build your brands. You can reach out quickly to the market because it’s so small,” says Hermez, explaining that this culture of collaboration is rapidly growing amongst Lebanese designers.

But the downside of such a market is that it is limiting, especially in a highly competitive industry, such as fashion design, where one needs to be present in the world’s fashion capitals to succeed. “In the fashion world, a lot depends on who you know, and on being in the right boutiques, and reaching out to the right buyers; it requires a lot of international networking and PR. In order to do that, you have to be present there, which means you need to have a really big budget to travel; young designers mostly can’t afford it unless they find an investor,” explains Hermez.

Although Hermez feels there is an emerging interest among financial backers and investors to finance fashion designers, she says there is not enough yet to meet demand.

When budgets are tight

The majority of Lebanese fashion designers say their largest market is the Gulf, which is not surprising given the traditional wealth of those countries and their affinity for the Lebanese touch.

However, with the decrease in oil prices and political turmoil the Gulf has been witnessing, this purchasing power has decreased significantly, and most fashion designers Executive spoke with have noticed. Only two of the six designers interviewed continue to have a steady demand from the Gulf. The others say that instead of the usual 10 to 12 couture dresses per season, clients from the Gulf have downsized to just two or three.

Yet, with the current omnipresence of social media, names of Lebanese fashion designers continue to flourish, regionally and internationally.

Executive spoke to six fashion designers (two via email) to learn about their unique successes and challenges. From those who overcame the obstacles of a war to become international success stories, to those who have recently entered the market but have already made a name for themselves; their stories show what it means to be a fashion designer out of Lebanon.

Design is like Lebanese politics. These days, both are somehow involved in everything. And like good policy making, a dose of good design is needed in every nook and cranny of the Lebanese economy.

As opposed to most things political, however, stakeholders in design since 2010 have made valiant efforts to nurture an ecosystem of “design made in Lebanon.” Dedicated tertiary education programs have been developed on both the undergraduate and graduate levels, with recent additions being a Masters in Global Design at Balamand University’s Académie Libanaise Des Beaux-Arts (ALBA) and a Bachelors in Fashion Design at the Lebanese American University.

With the creation some six years ago of the non-profit duopoly of the MENA Design Research Center (MDRC) and the annual Beirut Design Week (BDW) — brainchildren of designer Doreen Toutikian and her collaborators — design found a non-profit institutional base. Also in the last few years, international support for creative industries in Lebanon has helped pour some European aid money into the design sector’s growth, with the European Union, notably Italy, sponsoring programs, projects, and exhibitions such as design training for jewelers in Beirut and furniture makers in Tripoli, or the Medneta program with an overall $200 million budget aimed at supporting creativity in the arts, crafts, and design in urban communities around the Mediterranean Basin. But how, and how much, does design contribute to the Lebanese economy in measurable form, i.e. in dollars and cents?

The appreciation of local design has improved by leaps and bounds, and today, is very different from 15 to 20 years ago, says BDW founder-director Toutikian. As evidence, she cites how sophisticated young people flock to local designs, as opposed to how in the 1990s, Lebanese fashion-conscious consumers did not want to wear local products, to the point that Hamra boutiques would pass domestically made ready-wear as Italian imports to be able to sell them.  When it comes to economic quantification, however, the picture is neither clear nor compelling. Based on research that MDRC undertook in recent years, Toutikian says that the advertising and hospitality sectors — both with players that created winning stories on national and regional terms — show the largest integration of design in their industries. Hard numbers that would measure the value of design content in these two sectors have not been compiled, she concedes. Moreover, she says that awareness of design in the industrial and business community is practically nonexistent, and that the overall contribution of design to GDP is in the low single digits. “When it comes to fashion design industry or furniture or product design industry, [the contribution to GDP] is minute.”

Other sources are also not of much help. A “MENA Design Outlook” report published in 2015 by an international consultancy under apparent commission of the UAE-based state-affiliated company that hosts the Dubai Design District (d3) puts the total value of MENA design markets at about $100 billion in 2014, with a projection that this will rise to just under $148 billion by 2019. Lebanon’s share of the $100 billion 2014 market is given in the report as $1.7 billion, which would indicate that imported and domestic design together account for just under 4 percent of the Lebanese GDP. 

[pullquote] The overall contribution of design to GDP is in the low single digits [/pullquote]

However, the report characterizes the majority of the design markets in MENA — in cases like fashion design in the Gulf up to 80 percent of market volume — as being fed by “imported design.” Under the report’s assumption that “locally produced design goods and services account for approximately 35 percent of the total market size” for design, “design made in Lebanon” would contribute about 1.4 percent to GDP.

Design standards

While saying that the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia account for around 50 percent of regional design market volume, the report actually covers only three countries — Qatar, Egypt, and Lebanon — besides the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The report, which is also limited by its focus on sectors that may not play equal roles across the entire MENA, appears indeed to be the first of its kind in the region, but it leaves readers not only with an impression of much guesswork on the economic numbers in the various national design markets, it also admits that its criteria for consideration of design sectors in the Middle East and North Africa cannot be seen as conclusive. “While there is a growing consensus globally on the need to define, and classify the design sector, so it can be standardized, there is minimal coordination on an international scale as to what segments are included in the sector and how to account for their economic value. At present, there is no common framework or classification for the design sector across the MENA region,” it says. 

New definitions

As the economic numbers for design markets and industries in the Middle East remain foggy, local stakeholders widely agree that Lebanon and other Arab countries are still in early phases of economically measurable design appreciation — a sort of pre-economic stage. This notwithstanding, they are painting the future with general brightness, albeit in a palette of varying colors.  Toutikian perceives great potential for the Lebanese economy from design, if it is considered in a more global and holistic sense of design in technology and service. “I think there is no such thing as an economy without design. Everything is based on design, whether a space, a product, a service of any kind, or a business model. Design is something that no one in economy can live without, even if it is invisible,” she says.

“I don’t think we have a design identity now. Without discussing for the moment if we need a design identity in Lebanon, we are in the [process of] making one. I don’t know what the effect will be on the economy,” says Yasmine Nachabe Taan, chair of the Department of Design at LAU’s School of Architecture and Design.

Lee Frederix, an American designer who established himself in Lebanon several years ago and has recently been appointed as interim chair of the Department of Arts and Design (as Taan is slated for a sabbatical), sees Lebanon as a regional design hub — even if this is in the sense that a one-eyed person is king among the blind. In his opinion, Lebanon can be some sort of incubator for design thinking and education in the Middle East, but the path he describes does not necessarily sound quick or simple.  Lebanon’s historically fragmented culture is the substance of “what Lebanese design is, because that is what the whole country is,” Frederix tells Executive. In this context, he favors organic development in which a “Lebanese design” direction would be the outcome, if design departments, like the one in LAU, do their job to produce “educated, creative thinkers, who go into design fields.” Noting that art from the region was rewarded with a ballooning of interest (and prices) in the past few years, Frederix regards a similar potential for Lebanese design because of “the trendiness of all things from this region in the West.” While a fleeting phenomenon, he says that fashion writers in Paris and bloggers in New York “are obsessed with anything that is coming out of the Middle East.”

[pullquote] Lebanon and other Arab countries are still in early phases of economically measurable design appreciation [/pullquote]

Taan similarly sees many Lebanese designers’ most promising path to success in proving themselves in international markets before tackling domestic performance. “The Lebanese designer has to go abroad, prove himself in New York and Paris, and come back for the local people to say ‘we want their fashion.’ We can export, and that is what we do. We export designers and creativity,” she says when talking to Executive about the latest developments in regard to fashion design (see introduction page 22).    

The widening of older definitions of design to a newer concept of social design is where Marc Baroud, director of the design department at ALBA, sees the real growth potential for design made in Lebanon. “If you take social design, we think that this is a field where Lebanon is very prone for playing a greater role and contribute way more to than to product design,” he says. Like others in the Lebanese design community, he points to the lack of a strong manufacturing industry, and the small size of the domestic market as factors that put the country at a disadvantage when compared with industrial or product design cultures that other countries or design capitals from Denmark to Tokyo and Singapore have developed over the course of decades.

In the area of social design, however, he sees untapped global markets for design made in Lebanon. “I think that great things can come out [of this country] in terms of social design, and because the problem-solving experience of the Lebanese can be of [global] value. Today, everything is connected, whether it is service design or product design and social design, and we don’t need to produce things locally. This is why we [at the ALBA design department] think that design from Lebanon — to avoid the term Lebanese design — has great opportunities,” says Baroud who also has experience as a designer working in Lebanon. 

The latest horse in the stable of design-centered Lebanon is being saddled and prepared to debut next month [September 2017] through Beirut Design Fair (BDF), an exhibition that will present both contemporary local, and vintage international items, and thus presumably contribute to the creation of a market for collectibles.

Guillaume Taslé d’Héliand, the fair’s founder and director, explains that BDF will focus on exhibiting furniture and product design. Making regular visits to Beirut throughout recent years, he found that the local market did not provide the space that designers wished for. “Many designers told me that they were not satisfied with the commercial side of product design in Lebanon,” he tells Executive.

According to Taslé d’Héliand, BDF is a for-profit venture, but he does not expect to incur a positive bottom line for up to three years. He expects, however, that business in Lebanon will enter a phase of rapid growth “as soon as the Syrian question will cease to be a problem,” as he puts it. In his expectation, this explosive growth will apply to the economy in general, and therefore be beneficial to the design market. As for his specific interest in developing this market, he refers to numerous factors that make the country a candidate for playing a greater role in design, such as its “culture and Lebanese creativity, critical sense, and available training and schooling in design,” as well as well-developed craftsmanship, sense of hospitality, and other advantages.

Concepts that consideration of design in manufacturing or services can create better outcomes from the start of a manufacturing or services process have not yet been fully integrated in Lebanon, but it would be beneficial to do so as countries with an integrated design dimension are dynamic economies, he argues. To help advance Lebanon, he and his local collaborators, therefore, think it will be prudent to “push design in this country more to the forefront,” to which end they plan beyond the creation of BDF to make partnerships with local organizations — examples include the Business School ESA and the Association of Lebanese Industrialists — as well as linking Beirut to international networks of “design capitals” and regional design councils.

“I think it’s legitimate to say for Beirut that we want this city to become the design capital of the entire region. That is our vision and what we want. You need money to move things, but the vision is not a business vision. The fair is one means among other means in reaching the vision [of having Lebanese design established as something that is recognized around the world],” he emphasizes. Beirut by his consideration is already today the de-facto only viable design capital of the Middle East and should be internationally recognized as such. “If you’re a real designer, you can change the world,” he adds.

The question over the value of design is not made any easier by the fact that definitions of design have been, are, and probably will remain, fluid. For Toutikian, “People tend to formulate design as just design which one sees in magazines, and thus, often perceive it as fashion, furniture, or product design. When we talk of design, we talk of the process of design that creates all of these things.”

Creative counterweight

The descriptions that are offered as wholesale explanation for design today see designers as driven by a general state of presumed dismay at our world’s imperfection. Positively phrased, contemporary design definitions gyrate around terms like “mindset,” “problem-solving,” “human-centric,” and “making the world a better place.”

As such, it appears that the current ideology of design thinking is positioning itself as the creative counterweight to the harshly analytical and profit-driven parts of social sciences that go under the label of economic science.

Structuring the creative process into a teachable discipline might well amount to the squaring of circles, but equally the exercise seems inevitable, given that human behavior, and the straightjacket of economic priorities, need to be reconciled through some process. Design appears to be the current thought on this process, mirrored in the shift that over the past 30 or 40 years gradually moved design from an afterthought of the production process — make a product look good to make it easier to sell — to a concern at the beginning of the process. This concern presumably is focused on the compatibility of the things, services, and even social processes, with the human need and consumption that Adam Smith denoted as “the purpose of all production.”

In the opinion of ALBA’s Baroud, the design ecosystem in Lebanon is set to grow on the strength of the intangible, but real social heritage of problem-solving and conviviality that exists in this country, and also because there are increasing numbers of like-minded people in the design community that are pushing the ecosystem forward. In this regard, he also expects that the new BDF project will promulgate greater understanding and appreciation of design, and help in clearing up confusion over different subspecialties in designing, such as the relationship between producing gallery pieces that will be prototypes and collectibles, and creating designs for production on a larger scale “in the hope that they can one day be produced in meaningful numbers to have an impact or improve things in society.”

Confessing to having initially been skeptical about the project of a fair, he accepted an invitation to be on the BDF’s screening committee for entries, and says that the fair might deliver aspects of a design market that people might expect, but not find at the differently purposed Beirut Design Week, “I guess that collectible design has a real market, and that this market can grow.” 

Appealing to some ever-hungry members of the monied crowd who are looking for passion investment opportunities might help gradually build the design market in Lebanon, but even in the best case, will not instantaneously embed appreciation and viability of design in the local business sphere.

However, there are additional indications for what were called green shoots after the global financial crisis. One such green shoot in Lebanese entrepreneurship with tech and design connotations could emerge just now in form of MAD, a catchy (but historically over-occupied) abbreviation for Music.Arts.Design.

Looking forward

MAD, as founder Rima Yacoub tells Executive, is a digital marketplace incorporated in Beirut and in Paris. More specifically, Yacoub describes it as “the marketplace to meet, discover, and launch artists in the music, arts, and design scene.” The startup has recently completed its first round of funding, with $360,000 that was provided by private investors and by the Seeders network of business angels in Lebanon, with matching funds added by IM Capital and Kafalat’s iSME program.

Yacoub, who is Lebanese with experience of working in Paris, says she and two partners — one French and one other Lebanese, her sister — created MAD in Lebanon because of their existing network that they had built by operating a marketing agency, and because the country is an “important location for artists and designers in the Middle East.” In attempting to remove traditional walls that hinder collaboration of artists, musicians, designers, and also ease their communication with corporations seeking them for projects related to their products or brands, MAD aims to grow out of its Lebanese-French base into an international platform, with offices in several countries within a few years, and is already planning to conduct a next funding round 18 months from today.   Besides such examples for synergies between the knowledge economy pushed by Lebanon’s central bank and the country’s creative industries, signs of promise for the growing viability of design made in Lebanon exist in local collaborations, such as new partnerships of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists with design stakeholders that have been struck on one level with BDF and on another level with ALBA (for internships).

[pullquote] There are increasing numbers of like-minded people in the design community that are pushing the ecosystem forward [/pullquote]

A third and final note of promise might be in taking Lebanese design to local markets. In recent years, design could be found in small workshops and boutiques either operated by the designers themselves or sponsored under EU or UNIDO programs like the Creative Lebanon sales rooms that were in Gemmayze a year ago. But now, design presence is growing also in posh places, such as the new urban shopping hub of ABC Mall Verdun.

Frank Kuntermann, deputy CEO of ABC, tells Executive on the sidelines of the mall’s lavish opening party on July 27 that the new ABC department store will feature Lebanese designers including established names like Nada Debs and Sarah’s Bag, but also newcomers in perfume design and rising stars in jewelry design. “With all these people, we have basically 20 percent of our offer in the department store as Lebanese design,” he explains and continues, “This is not enough. I would like to have a big space dedicated to [Lebanese] fashion design, where we could welcome young designers and present [their creations]. I would like [Lebanese design] to be [given] more [room] because there is talent in Lebanon, and ABC has to also be the face of Lebanese talent and design.”