Once again, Beirut turns itself over to the artists, architects and designers who have long refused to let its cultural pulse flatline. We Design Beirut returns from October 22 to 26, transforming the Lebanese capital into an open-air festival of installations, takeovers and exhibitions scattered across its most storied landmarks. Unlike global design weeks driven by commercial booths and brand activations, We Design Beirut feels socio-cultural and insurgent. Founder Mariana Wehbe and creative director Samer Alameen built the platform to resuscitate an endangered ecosystem – Lebanon’s artisans, many now aging with few successors, and its architectural heritage, much of it neglected or politically contested.

At the Abroyan Factory, three standout showcases will spotlight Lebanon’s craftsmanship and creative legacy. Threads of Life gathers eight textile artists, including Bokja, Sarah’s Bag and Salim Azzam, to reinterpret fabric as living memory, where each stitch becomes an archive of culture and personal history. In Skin of a City, photographers Patrick Baz and Anthony Saroufim explore intimacy, desire and liberation, using the human body as a canvas through which the city’s scars and sensualities are reimagined as visual language and emotional release. Meanwhile, Métiers d’Art pairs master artisans with contemporary designers to push the limits of technique and material, brought to life through live demonstrations, from Tessa Sakhi collaborating with glassblowers to Nada Debs working alongside marquetry artisan Nabil Haswani.


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