When the items on display are as ornate as the kitchenware and accessories offered at Images d’Orient’s new studio, store and showroom in Beirut, the surrounding environment must remain a backdrop.
In their design of the 70 square-metre (753 sq.ft) space, Beirut-based Rabih Geha Architects considered the core aspects of the colourful vagabond brand and came up with a setting that echoes ancient forms and hues yet looks freshly contemporary.
Images d’Orient brand and its parent company Eusamex were founded in 2000 by Lebanon-born brother and sister Charbel Raphael and Peggy Raphael Dabbar.
The siblings describe the brand as a way to promote the richness of their Mediterranean heritage and from the start, they wanted the products they designed and sold to reflect the ancient but in a modern way.
The studio and store is located in Ashrafieh, one of the oldest districts of Beirut. The façade’s main feature are the arches – and the arch form repeats inside.
Grey terrazzo flooring, white walls, blue arches and bright red ceiling create the pop and structure required to showcase the intricately detailed kitchen, bath and travel accessories.
We love the use of perforated steel mesh as ‘curtains’ that both divide and connect the various areas.
This flexibility will be especially useful when products are launched or entire new collections introduced in the space that also functions as a retail store and the creative space for the brand’s designers. Tuija Seipell.
Images by Tony Elieh
