Tiles of old houses turned into modern bags.. How does Beirut inspire its designers?

- From the traditional tile patterns that have decorated Lebanese homes for generations, Pamela Mikhail was inspired by the “Beirut Tiles” collection, transforming its geometric shapes and color combinations into modern designs and bags that recall features of the city’s memory. The Lebanese designer started developing the collection from photos she took of old buildings and architectural details in the streets of Beirut, which she reprocessed digitally to create new patterns that preserve their connection to heritage without transferring it literally.

This experience reveals an aspect of the Lebanese capital’s relationship with art and design, as the city’s daily details, from tiles and stone arches to windows, balconies and old shops, turn into sources of inspiration that transcend the boundaries of architecture. For a number of Lebanese artists and designers, Beirut is not limited to being a place where they live or work, but rather it forms part of their identity and memory, with its historical layers, cultural diversity and details whose meanings are renewed with the passage of time.

For Mikhail, founder of Fashion Factory, inspiration starts from familiar elements in the Lebanese environment, but takes on new connotations when she moves into the world of fashion. Traditional tiles, with their geometric shapes, colors and various details, do not merely represent an architectural decoration, but rather part of an identity that has been passed down through generations.

In an interview with the Ofoq News website in Arabic, Mikhail explained that she began working on the “Beirut Tiles” collection by documenting details she captured during her wanderings in the Lebanese capital, before collecting the images in a visual archive on which she relied to develop her designs. Using digital art, she recomposed the elements, modified their colors, and created different patterns, giving this heritage a new expression in line with fashion trends.

In the 2026 bags, the colors of the season are incorporated, from rich browns and dark burgundy to vintage-inspired colors and icy blue. If Mikhail recalls the memory of the city through tiles and their inscriptions, then Lebanese jewelry designer Lina Joudi turns to other elements of her identity.

In an interview with the Ofoq News website in Arabic, Jodi described her relationship with Beirut as a story that combines identity, memory, and beauty. This connection is reflected in her designs, which take inspiration from elements of Lebanese architecture and re-present them through jewelry.

This trend extended to the design of its store in downtown Beirut, where architect Dana Nassour worked to highlight the arches for which the city is famous within a decor language that later became the basis of the logo that bears Judy’s name, while adopting sustainable materials that combine the authenticity of the past with the beauty of the present. Her inspiration is not limited to architecture, but also includes writing and historical symbols.

She explored the name Beirut through Phoenician script, Kufic script, and Arabic calligraphy, and transformed these elements into contemporary jewelry designs. Among her works is a necklace that combines hand-carved mother-of-pearl with diamonds, which was chosen among designs that represent the Lebanese heritage on board Middle East Airlines flights.

It also designed a map of Lebanon with a texture inspired by the land, and marked the location of Beirut with diamonds, in reference to the capital's position in the heart of the country. In cooperation with the Lebanese-French brand Stone by Randa, she created the “Rebirth” ring, made of gold, amethyst and diamonds, and inspired by the Beirut waterfront.

Beirut Houses between Architecture, Memory and Imagination We move to the buildings themselves, but from a different angle that combines architectural observation and human stories. In the “Beirut Houses” series of illustrations, the Lebanese artist and designer Mahmoud Awad deals with the capital’s architecture as a space that stores the details of daily life, not just facades and geometric shapes.

In an interview with the Ofoq News website in Arabic, Awad explained that the idea for the project began when he was sitting with a friend on the balcony of one of the cafes in the Mar Mikhael area in the center of the capital, when a yellow building on the opposite side caught his eye. Its facade, balconies, and windows stopped him, so he decided to draw it without trying to copy it as it is.

Instead, he re-presented it through his own vision, adding imagined scenes that give it life beyond the confines of the building itself. On one of the balconies, he imagined an elderly couple sharing coffee, while on the ground floor he drew a small café whose tables, chairs, and plants opened onto the street.

These details reveal his interest in what happens in and around buildings, from coffee sessions to small shops and plants that decorate windows and balconies. Awad benefits from his background in architecture and design, but gives illustration space to introduce memory and imagination into his work.

He does not seek to present Beirut in an ideal, postcard-like image, but rather to capture its daily features, including its contradictions, traces of time, and details that carry the stories of successive generations. The artist plans to draw about five buildings, each with its own colors, characters, and story, and later combine them into a broader painting depicting an imaginary Beirut street, in which realistic observations, memories, and innovative scenes intersect.

Thus, architecture becomes an entry point for telling the city’s stories, not a subject for drawing alone.