Creative Space Beirut

I open the door on the first floor of an old pink building located among the cement foliage of Mar Mikhael and step inside what looks like a mad scientist’s mind. Trash bins overflowing with scrunched up papers, magazines tossed on the floor, racks of handmade clothes scattered here and there along with scissors, rulers, pens, glue sticks and more. The white walls accentuate the vibrant colors in the room and transform it into a colorful box of crayons set against January’s gloomy weather. This is Creative Space Beirut (CSB), where the mind knows no boundaries. CSB is a free fashion design school that welcomes skilled individuals from all corners of Lebanon. In 2011, Sarah Hermez, a fashion design graduate from Parsons New York, co-founded the institution with her former instructor Lebanese-American designer Caroline Shlala-Simonelli. Hermez moved to Beirut with a mission to ease the financial strains that prevent Lebanese