>my greetings cards

>warm wishes!

> Scandinavian Tree

Well my home tree this year is not as funky as my other trees here, here and here but it still is very beautiful: just plain white and wood ornaments... Guess I've been reading too much Scandinavian blogs lately ;-)

>Christmas sparkles with Julien Abboud and Haifa!

A funny story has been shaking the web lately: Julien Abboud the talented designer for whom I do all the visual communication has created for fun a Haifa Barbie to be able to dress her the way he dreams of, and it looks like this:

Now the dress is absolutely fabulous but the buzz it created on the web and the rumours are hallucinating!! The polemics whether we should buy this doll for our kids, the fact that Mattel created for Haifa, etc etc... Read all about it on Julien's FB page here.

And we don't even know if Haifa herself has actually seen the doll's picts (actually it was posted on her wall by her SM team...) or if Mattel even know about it!

Funny virtual world we live in...

Meantime enjoy this Christmas Red picture from our last photoshoot with Julien!

>New Tree Design !

And talking about trees, here's a tree I designed this year with recycled phone cables (Thx to the design team for execution!), for RJ shop windows in synergy with the Hitchcock campaign below...

>Tony Ward News

One of the latest jobs I've been working on involves various designs for Tony Ward the FAB Lebanese Couture Designer, Stars and Tapis Rouge favorite as you can see right here...

Above is a web newsletter layout that will be sent to fans and clients worldwide, and I will post soon the Greetings package... But hush for now ;-)

TW FB page here for more info. 

>pages from RJmag 7

You can also click here for the bloggers pages.

Nantes: Les Machines de l'ile & Royal Deluxe: XXl amazement!

I visited Nantes again for 24 hrs last week, and it still is one of my favorite spots in Brittany.
But this time I discovered Les Machines de l'Ile and was in complete awe!
Take a look at this:

François Delarozière and Pierre Orefice are actively involved in the renewal of street theatre and urban performances in Europe. They have been exploring machinery and objects in movement for fifteen years.
They chose Nantes to be the home of their XXL creations: in Nantes you could wake up one day and not be able to reach work because a Giant lady tall as building has just landed in the middle of the street and is taking a stroll around the city...
The elephant that you see above showered me in water if you want to know!... needless to say my kids rejoiced ;-)
Nantes being first on the list of "les villes ou il fait bon vivre" was a great spot for the Machines to land, but they are now traveling the globe also: Japan,  Mexico ... Click here to know more. It feels good to have people like François Delarozière and Pierre Orefice in the world,  so cheers to them!

>freshly published: the updated Julien Abboud website!

You already know the design I did for Julien Abboud 's Haute Couture website, but you might want to check it again: lots of updates, mainly in the collections page, where you can find the new photoshoots that I "art-directed"...

>Home Made Halloween

One of my favorite holidays is arriving soon and all the more reasons to get creative!
Here are a few inspirational pics from last year's Halloween...

#ThankYouSteve for everything I do everyday

Live tweets here

and also http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/

> karim haïdar, contemporary lebanese cuisine

For a few months now, I've been working with the passionate Lebanese Chef Karim Haïdar, to create the image of his company and various restaurants. And now the website developed by NoBrand following our graphic guidelines is finally out right here!
You can have a look at Karim's Bio along with pictures of his creations, and many more...
Soon you will be also able to get a taste of his talent in Beirut at Zabad restaurant!
There's been lots of talk about Zabad, but I do assure you it's worth the wait.
The menu will feature Karim's latest delicacies, interiors have been developed by my friends at Bleu , and branding by myself as already revealed .  (Though it seems some people liked it so much they put on their portfolio... ;-) )

>Fashion shoot sneak preview: Feline Amazone

I am currently working on the new ad campaign of Julien Abboud a talented young lebanese designer... The collection is not yet online but I couldn't resist posting a few photos!
I did the art direction on shoot and Imad El Khoury did the photos...

>My road trip to South Italy...

After being so long off the blog, I thought I'd give you one exhaustive post, with lots of pics about my wanderings this summer!

Our trip started in Calabria, Cosenza to be precise, with its lovely medieval town.

North Calabria is very refreshing because you do not see many tourists,
you really feel like an explorer.

After that we moved down to Tropea, a little jewel on the Mediterranean:

...where we ate seafood pasta and spada involtini, or rolls of sworfish, miam!

And from Calabria, we were off to the Aeolian islands, starting with Lipari and Panarea,

and then to Stromboli!!! The island with the eponym volcano!

Okay at first it looks quite peaceful from afar...

Then you discover its beaches where the sand is actually lava stone...

 And suddenly at sunset, badabooomm!

Stromboli is one of the most active volcanos on the planet but its eruptions are quite small... but scary nevertheless! It is very well seen from miles away, and people actually call it "Lighthouse of the Mediterranean".

After Stromboli we continued to Mount Etna, in Sicily, yes another volcano ;-)

And more lava stone, with cute little red visitors..

In search for more peaceful surroundings, we really enjoyed the Gigliotto Agriturismo and its fruity wine...

Caltagirone village, which actually comes from the arabic قلعة الجرن which means town of the jar, and its ceramic stairs...

Then Ragusa, Modica and Noto the Baroque towns, unforgettable Syracusa, and I'll finish with these lovely pictures from The Tarot Gardens of Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely, on our road back to Rome's airport. 

Arrivederci!

© all picts by ghassan koteit.