“We are all actors in the inspiring design movement that unfolds around us – says the founder and curator of House of Today, Cherine Magrabi Tayeb – and each of us plays a different role to cultivate local creativity. The designers imagine and create. The artisans produce and make. House of Today curates, guides and connects. Interior designers plan and select. Finally, the viewer has an experience.” Co-directed by Charbel Abi Azar and Mattia Tebasti – coordinator Carina Nawbar – the design group has made a name for itself in the world of collectors thanks to participation in international events like Design/Miami, Collectible Salon in Brussels, Art Dubai, Beirut Design Fair…
“Lebanon is known for design – Cherine Magrabi Tayeb continues – and our creative talents are our ambassadors in the world: they present what our country has to offer. It is imperative to continue to encourage growth and creative expression: design culture is a force that contributes to change.”
The vision narrated by the masterpieces invented by over 60 talents has allowed House of Today to collaborate with the world’s most highly acclaimed galleries, such as R&Company in New York – where the collective showed works in the evocative Tribeca space – Nilufar in the center of Milan, Carpenters Workshop Gallery in London, Athr Art Gallery in Jeddah, Fumi Gallery in its exclusive summer location at Porto Cervo.
“In House of Today our role is to curate, guide, connect and exhibit, opening the way for the growth of the designers, to foster their creative spirit and continue to develop their approach.” At the recent Design/Miami 2021, IFDM met up with House of Today and its “New Nature” by Khaled El Mays, a collection of limited-edition furnishings with sinuous volumes and biomorphic shapes that interact and intertwine, blending and generating contrasts at the same time.
The series is composed of five pieces – two mirrors, a cabinet, a coffee table and the first chair created by the designer – made by skilled craftsmen in Mexico City, with an unusual combination of colors and materials, including leather, wood and ceramic, “a material that adds a touch of surrealism to a collection inspired by Art Nouveau, a style that has always fascinated me – El Mays explains. – I have approached this important period in the history of design, trying to extract and shift its supple lines, making them my own.”
New Nature is the result of four years of research, to present a new perspective and a personal interpretation of an epoch that will always be contemporary. “This is the playful approach I always want to insert in my work. The exploration is in progress, and even more importantly it now interacts with Mexico City, its language of colors and crafts, without which this series would never have seen the light.”
House of Today (HoT)
Starco, Bloc B, 11th Floor
Beirut, Lebanon
info@house-of-today.com
www.houseoftoday.com
