Tender light on tender mom in 2017

 Mom is sicker than ever these days, so I went looking at our photos together. At my photos of her. She is in Beirut and I am in Ottawa. Too far away.

Opening a new design Studio in Ottawa : SCENE-Studio.com

There it is, after 2 years in Canada, I launched my new studio and website, visit at www.scene-studio.com to have a look, the website is a work in progress as I am still growing it regularly. Hoping to have a place on the internet as a digital home.

I wonder what past projects to include, those will be in the stories part of the website.

With SCENE-Studio, I will be doing both in-house, personal work and freelance collaborations. 

I am offering Art prints, jewelry and apparel, while also maintaining a creative output and a studio offering creative services for other brands looking for collaborations. 

Hello World - A note before the end of 2022

 As a person who carries multiple hats, so much has changed in most if not all the areas in my life the last few years, I kinda exchanged those older hats with new ones (like many other residents of Lebanon and elsewhere in the world, yet very few Lebanese share details of that life shift I feel we need to record more of). This here is a note for my future self and for the random internet reader or the friend, online friend who used to follow this blog.

My daughter is now 4 years old! and she defines a big part of who I am and what I do everyday, trying to bring up this little human the best way I know. So being a mom and an artist and designer and educator and small business owner all so exciting though it is sometimes too much to manage while keeping a blog. So I am not re-opening this blog, I am just making an entry today, because I just revisited the older posts and appreciated having them there.

But as these sporadic posts tell, I would have loved to be blogging more, I remember when blogging was THE THING and some entries from this blog and my other blog were often among the most read blog posts in Lebanon, as reported by the twitter account @lebaneseblogs and website Lebanese Blogs (by Mustapha Hamoui if I remember right?).

So,... the short version:

Since my daughter was born, we moved out of Beirut to Mansourieh, 2 days later the 4 of August blast happened in Beirut port and destroyed our Beirut home and her bedroom, for covid19 lockdown, my daughter had her first steps on the rooftop of our place in Beirut, then we spent summer in the mountains - in Rejmeh, then Mansourieh, then with the economic crisis in Lebanon getting worse by the day, we moved to Ottawa, Canada, where my mother-in-law was sick, and we missed saying goodbye by a few days making it only to the funeral. We then moved to Centretown Ottawa to a place of our own, after staying a few months with the family. 

As a designer, I was really inspired when I was pregnant and the first months of H. life I created some of the first jewelry items and remember talking to the seamstress working on the wool ponchos all while waiting in the hospital for baby to decide to come to the world. 

But, later on as we went from home to home and managed the blast's trauma, the economic crisis and covid, things had to slow down. To manage a local inspired design business set in Lebanon while being in Canada seemed too much, so I slowed down Lebanese production for SCENE Beirut (not stopping though!) and set up an Etsy shop (SCENE Studio Works) for international orders and made to order production.

Now past the memory lane rant, actual timely news: 

I am writing this from my home in Ottawa, also to say I am taking part in a Christmas fair in Montreal this weekend! and it is very exciting to be among other creatives and meeting the crowds!

Double excitement for meeting others who also have known Lebanon/Beirut and can relate to whatever runs through my mind whenever I am walking the supermarket aisle and see "Pita Bread" or "Mediterranean Hummus dip"  and smirk while looking to the ceiling ;)

Where to find me these days

Join me on instagram or on my etsy, until I start blogging again, hopefully soon!

Promotional Item for Daraj el Fan, An art festival on the Streets on Gemmayze during the summer season

 

Daraj El Fan is an art exhibition on the stairs of St. Nicholas in Gemmayze, what is better than a paintbrush-holder to promote such an event happening in a beautiful area. 

Of course it can also be used to hold any other items visitors would like to use it for, brushes, pens or small succulent plants.

Promotional Object: an umbrella to encourage sidewalk shopping

 

 During the winter campaign, and to encourage people to shop in the street walking the sidewalks from shop to shop, The ADG (association de developement de Gemmayze) distributed umbrellas to The shops in all the Street of Gemmayze. They will give an umbrella as a gift to all their costumers.

Socio-emotional mapping of Lebanon and Beirut as done for SCENE Beirut ©

 All rights reserved © Celine Khairallah

Type inspiration : Great effect from the sun on the Numerical fridge magnets

Sun + Number Magnets Magic

 

Great Type inspiration made with the simple number magnets on the fridge

Launching of my Etsy Shop! introducing SCENE Studio Works

Lovers of Arabic Calligraphy, Lebanon, patterns and Letters in all Languages, I would like to introduce to you my new Etsy Shop : SCENE Studio Works

Repetitively and over the years I have received numerous emails and messages on my Lebanese design business and passion SCENE Beirut (https://www.facebook.com/SceneBeirut/) asking if I deliver worldwide, and for the longest time I had to decline, well not anymore, As of October 2019, I have little by little built a small Etsy Shop dedicated to Arabic Calligraphy apparel for women, men and Children, in addition to mugs and posters of my calligraphy art. Lately I have been also selling SCENE Beirut Jewelry but I am sometimes late on the postings, so if you have any requests to not hesitate to contact me here or on https://www.facebook.com/SCENE.StudioWorks or instagram https://www.instagram.com/PatternLetter/ messaging. I have so many ideas, only need the time to do them and put them up of the store, so please send me a message if you have any requests. Great thing is that now I can ship anywhere and at competitive pricing thus offering some items with free shipping when possible :) so head over to https://www.scenestudioworks.etsy.com and hope you love what you see

New Bags Collection : LOVE and POWER, Hand embroidered.

SCENE Beirut - © Copyright

SCENE Beirut - © Copyright

 These Bags are part of the latest collection of SCENE Beirut Bags, it is my first collaboration with the women workshop of Basmeh and Zeitouneh ngo, and they have done a great work at translating my illustrations and calligraphy into colorful stitches.

These bags stem from my belief that power and love go hand in hand. No need to let any of the 2 go for the other, ask all the mothers, and they will tell you how they do it everyday.

Love, and power,
C

كلمة الاسبوع: أزمة

كلمة الاسبوع: أزمة

Website www.scenebeirut.com is online

This blog helped me so much when I first started, it has been slow lately mainly because I have ventured  into creating my own brand "SCENE - Beirut" - Lebanese inspired bags and accessories among other things- and its e-commerce website www.scenebeirut.com.
While most of the conversation moved to Facebook and Facebook page, I still like to consider this blog as a repository where many of my activities are stored on a timeline. It kind of keeps me focused and I find it easy to come back to.

If you got a few minutes, please visit the new website, for now it is mainly for Lebanese Based clients, as cash on delivery is the main payment way, but soon a card payment gateway will be added and shopping from the site will become possible from anywhere.
If you are located in some of the Arab Countries, for a small extra fee, we can also do cash on delivery or bank transfer shopping, the good old way.
Take a look, let me know what you think, it is a work in progress that keeps growing.
Thank you for passing by :)

New Beirut Mugs

New SCENE Beirut product - MUGS! 

Now available in Blue and Red.
Personalization and customized requests also possible!
shop at http://lebelik.com/designers/scene-beirut.html
or contact me on:
www.scenebeirut.com
facebook.com/scenebeirut

Happy New Year كل عام وانتم بخير

Wish you all the Best for the coming year!

And let us not forget,
"النهايات هي بدايات والبدايات لنا امكانيات"
Meaning :
"Endings are Beginnings, and Beginnings are for us new possibilities"

Collaboration with David Hury on "The Beirut Book"

The Arabic Font - Named Rayya Kufi - next to the Latin one. Sabah quoted in The Beirut Book

Long due is this post!
"The Beirut Book" came out in Octobre during the yearly "Salon du livre".

One year ago, I met David in London during "The Arab Art and Design exhibition" at Graffik Gallery, in which we were both taking part. Apart from his long career as a writer and journalist in Lebanon, he is the creator of "Beirut Prints" presenting high quality prints to the public by a variety of talented Lebanese photographers.

Last spring, he asked me to handle both the Arabic Editing, picking sentences from songs or books, and the creation of an Arabic font to be used in the book to go well with the stencil style of the Latin Font used in the book and created by himself based on Beirut Street signage.

The result is a book made with a lot of Love for a city that doesn't leave anyone indifferent, to say the least!

Another spread from the Beirut Book using Rayya Kufi Arabic Font

Published by "Tamyras" , here is David's foreword to the Beirut Book:

The Beirut Book was born from a series of illustrations inspired by the enameled blue name plates found at the corner of Beirut streets, and created by Beirut Prints, a collective of photographers formed three years ago. Initially, these illustrations relied on a simple principle: twist the phrasing of well-known quotations to include the word "Beirut". The very first one was inspired by the U2 song "Where the Streets Have No Name". An observation that turned out to be false since the streets of Beirut actually have names even when its inhabitants are rarely aware of them. Later, this phrase spawned others, 
all drawn from the language of Shakespeare and pop culture: "Star Wars", Nirvana, "Aliens", Orwell...

A few weeks later, in fall 2013, the idea was reimagined as an interactive activity during the book fair "Salon du livre francophone de Beyrouth". (...) 
Visitors of the book fair were able to try their hand at the exercise. They wrote what they wished about the city. In ten days, more than three hundred people had taken part in the game. Lebanese visitors, foreigners, authors. Swedes, Frenchmen, Afghans and Lebanese. A Goncourt winner. A Renaudot winner, and other eminent figures. And later more "penmen" such as composers, photographers, filmmakers, a prime minister, an ambassador... In this book, everyone has been treated equally and identified with a first name and an initial. 

All these words were mixed with those of ordinary passers-by and with those that social media users put up online. And 
naturally, languages followed suit. On the wall plastered with pieces of paper and blue ink, there was English, French and 
Arabic of course, but also Armenian, Croatian, German, Swedish, Russian, Dutch, Spanish, Italian... This diversity is in Beirutís image. Difficult to faithfully reproduce.

(...) 
"The Beirut Book" has neither page numbers nor chapters or theme classifications. The pages that follow reflect the way Beirutis (at heart or just stopping over, and whatever their 
origins) perceive their city: chaotic, tender, full of hatred, libertarian, fettered, amorous, sexy, nostalgic, critical, 
unbearable, cynical...

Bright Living room: Beirut Inspired

A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about a wedding return gift personalized project I worked on this summer as part of SCENE's approach to dealing one on one with the clients when creating personalized products.

Here I worked on this interior, starting with a daybed style couch reminiscent of the traditional Levantine common room. First we discussed the color palette we will be using having brown as our base yet moving away from the traditional. We mixed and matched bright orange, blue, pink and green with the brown to create a fresh and modern living space, of course inspired by Lebanese pop culture and using the signature Calligraphy element of SCENE. 

SCENE products now available worldwide through Lebelik.com

I am excited to Let you know that SCENE Beirut is now available worldwide!

Lebelik is an online shopping platform specialized in getting Lebanese Designers' products  available everywhere, from fashion and accessories to home collection, and I couldn't recommend enough their good service.

"SCENE" recently joined LEBELIK website and you can check the collection on that link:
http://www.lebelik.com/brands/Scene-Beirut

It will soon be expanding so keep coming back every once in a while, as surprises and new products await. Here are some screen shots of the SCENE Beirut page on Lebelik.

Arabic Wedding Logo and Return Gifts Calligraphy

The final Logo as seen on the labels

Ralph and Edith, a young couple living in Paris and from Lebanese parents wanted an Arabic and Modern logo to use on their wedding invitation card and table tents.

Draft of logos

Final 6 options

Handprinted fabric ready to be made into bags by the skilled craftsmen

 As a return gift to their invitees and friends, we came up with the couple with a personalized choice of an Ipad bag / clutch using three shades of blue, with the sentence "Today we drink and tomorrow is serious" calligraphed in Arabic and handprinted on the front. The names logo was also printed in the lower left corner on the back of the bags.

The bag

While the woman version has a handle, the man's version is a handle free
ipad bag with dark tones of blue and a black print.

Three bags using 3 shades of blue

Wishing the newly weds happiness all the way!

Seems like Arabic calligraphy is finally getting the attention it deserves with George Clooney accessorizing at his wedding with cufflinks, which were a gift from Amal and had 'George' inscribed on them in Arabic.

Behind the SCENE : New bags getting made!

The old radio is always on

everything is done by hand using a few simple tools.

It's been a while I did not blog, but I have always wanted to share photos of the production phase, so today I got the chance to make some photos of the craftsmen at work. Their knowledge and experience are a great asset to SCENE Beirut - my brand, and to myself.

One of the thrills (and there are many!) of creating a new product is that discussion with the craftsman and the synergy in translating designs into high quality unique pieces. And the energy of work is just wonderful.
There you can see the importance of a short chain in the production process, from the idea to the finishing, all can be amended on the spot.
The attention to details is primordial for every piece, one by one they are all made by hand with care and pride.

Road trip across the USA - notebook scans

Those date from Summer of 2011, when I went the long way across the USA to finally meet my sister in Fayetteville. I just stumbled on the notebook lately, and it revived many good memories. One of the best trips I ever had.

My route, when there is no airplane illustration, means it was done by Bus : Beirut - New York - Washington DC - Pittsburg - Columbus - Chicago - Seattle - San Franscisco - Los Angeles - Fayetteville - Beirut. 

Read more, eat less: Only complimentary soft drinks when flying internal American flights

Bus travel on the highway between two states. Front seat, 2nd floor deck.

How do you go faster on train station stairs? throw the bag down instead of carrying it.

travel essentials: Map and camera.

laying comfortable in public space: something I miss in Beirut

facing the MET in NYC

I love Beirut - The Rational behind the Logo

Arabic Calligraphy of "Beirut"  in a heart shape - © Celine Khairallah  

I Love Beirut. أنا بحب بيروت

You might have noticed this Beirut logo somewhere around in town with someone carrying/wearing SCENE Beirut products or here as the new header image in my blog, yet I have been really busy lately and rarely sharing behind the SCENE steps that lead to the image creation, hopefully we will catch up with that bit by bit, one visual at a time :)

First things first: BEIRUT

I love Beirut, in order to write that in English, we need the subject/ verb/ object sentence form, or the modern "I (heart) Beirut" (taken from the original "I (heart or <3) NY" logo. Yet, when it comes to Arabic, and the flexibility of the letters, options are limitless.

Thus, I drew the Arabic letter of Beirut "بيروت" in a heart shape. The simplest, most common sign to represent "love".

The letters, themselves become the signifiers of love; Mixing the love I have to the city, with the love the city radiates back. Eliminating the "Subject" actually includes everyone and the city:

I love Beirut.
We love Beirut.
They love Beirut.
Beirut is love.
Beirut loves.
بيروت حبيبتي

"Heart Beirut" logo on SCENE Beirut Products

Somewhere, Elsewhere

"Somewhere, Elsewhere"  - Copyright © Celine khairallah 

SCENE Beirut @ Al Souk - London ; The Arab Art and Design Concept Store

I am happy to share some photos (source) from the Opening of Al Souk in London - part of Nour Festival for the Arts.
The exhibition was at Graffik Gallery from Nov 14th till the 21st., Moving next week to the famous The Tabernacle from Nov. 25th till Dec. 1st.

SCENE Beirut is exhibiting a new selection of limited edition colorful cushions, Poufs and Bags, available for the first time in London.

Bobo Macarons at the opening

Suzel Pitty, curator of the Nour Festival 2013 and Maxime Duda organizer of Al Souk-London at the opening of Al Souk at Graffik Gallery.

Scene Beirut Ipad Cases on Display