HORECA: Best Stand Competition Review

It was very interesting and so much fun to be in the Horeca 2012 Jury for the Best Stand Competition!

We were: Rana Nasr from Bleu Design Consultants, Malek Salamé, talented architect, and myself for the branding and visual comunication. We reviewed every stand thouroughly, checking the first impression, how does it appeal to you, the general concept, the architecture & volumes, and finally the branding: Is the brand identity present? Is the stand in synergy with its guidelines? etc..

There were 3 categories: Best Stand, Best Small Stand and Best Branded Stand.

Nominees for Best Branded Stand:

>Taanayel Les Fermes

>PowerHorse

> and Sohat

AND THE WINNER was:  Taanayel, very welcoming stand & staff, charming farm design and brand identity 100% there.

Nominees for Best Small Stand:

>Lavazza

> BimPos who really had a very technical product, yet they displayed it in a very nice way

>and La Rose Noire , my picts are of poor quality, but it was a very elegant small stand with a beautiful display, eye candy really.

AND THE WINNER was: Lavazza ! Very intelligent space conception, beautiful espresso-cup tables and all the Italian Spirit in the picture wall...


Nominees for Best Stand:

>KFF alcoholic drinks for the nightclub mood

>IXSIR wine, "the answer is within"... Very Sleek Original Design

>and Prunelle of course, who was the people's choice ;-)

AND THE WINNER was: Prunelle! Smart choice of materials, nice color palette, good branding... However Rana, Malek and me would like to point out that it was not a matter of size, it could've been 50% smaller and we would have liked to see more real bakers and less wax figures...

Congrats to all and good luck for next year! And remember, an original idea is much better than a huge budget...

>LibanPost & St Jude's team up for Mother's Day

Guess what I received in my mail today? 2 great letters from my gorgeous daughters that they wrote at school and sent with LibanPost, as well as a beautiful pin in a lovely little envelope!
How cute is that???
I later investigated and as Hind Fadel, LibanPost marketing director, confirmed, the profits go to St Jude's Children Cancer Center... All I can say is Hats Off!
Thanks a lot and have a wonderful Mother's Day...

>LFA (Lebanese Franchise Association) new book & box design

Very proud to have worked on (and finished! ;-) ) the new LFA booklet with over than 180 members, with a double spread with all relevant info for each... A reference if you want to start a business in Lebanon and the region, or if you want to export Lebanese Creativity and become a Franchisee in any country of the world!

Join their Facebook page right here, and check their website for more...

Oh, and one more thing... GREAT NATIONS MAKE GREAT BRANDS!

>Parties & Tables: The Roaring Twenties / Années Folles Party

A couple of weeks ago, I had the chance to work on the organization of a 1920ies party: Everything from the invite, to the tabletops, props for the guests, CD cover, and even the wall art that the restaurant owner agreed gracefully to let us hang!

It was definitely fun, especially that almost everyone came with great outfits... A journey back in time!

>Nikon School New Campaign

For those of you who enjoyed the Nikon vote last year, and the Nikon Bags,

here is my new design for the Nikon School Lebanon new campaign visual!

>Dermaclinic (Drs Micheline Chalouhi & Maurice Dahdah)

As usual while working with BLEU, my favorite design firm, they send me their moodboard with a detailed brief and we try to create the most accurate identity.
Dermaclinic is, as its name says, a dermatology clinic run by the excellent Doctors Micheline Chalouhi & Maurice Dahdah.
The original theme conveyed the idea of perfect zen ripples. While working with the doctors on various ripple logos, it was suddenly crystal clear to me that skin should be present and not only in the signature. This is how I naturally shifted towards another kind of ripples, the unique and exclusive marks that each and every one of us leaves: our finger prints.
Below the moodboard, the study evolution and the final logo and cards.

>René Gruau, the best fashion illustrator of all time!

Rene Gruau (1909-2004) has always been my favorite fashion illustrator of all time! 

Ever since I was eighteen and studying art in Paris, all through my career, and up till now, I cannot stop being amazed at how, with 2 or 3 little brush strokes, the most astonishing lady appears: Sensual, glamourous and ultra sophisticated.

He collaborated with major magazines like Elle, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar,  L'Officiel, and Madame Figaro, and major designers like Pierre Balmain, Christian Dior, Jacques Fath, Balenciaga, Elsa Schiaparelli, Rochas, Lanvin, Elizabeth Arden, and Hubert de Givenchy and the great Yves St Laurent. Gruau gave life to their haute couture clothing with his captivating illustrations.

I'll let you browse through my favorites right here, and enjoy the lines 

as well as the composition of each page. Total respect!

>New Job: Food Stylist!

Last month, I had the chance to work on a photoshoot that did not involve fashion as usual, but another passion of mine: Food! There was a budget constraint, so I worked on the art direction as well as the food styling and it was a first for me, so i did a lot of research... and here's the result!

I hope it makes you hungry ;-)

>See you in PITTI !

I am leaving in a few hours for Florence to cover Pitti Uomo for Rectangle Jaune!

I will probably post some picts from there and get ready for a full report on RJ's blog when we come back...

UPDATE: all the info right here!

>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...