24 hours in Paris

I just had a quick break in the City of Lights and as usual, here are some new tips!

UN
Do not miss Buren at the Grand Palais even if you only have one hour! It is splendid! All those lights going through the colored circles with amazing shadows...

And the circular mirrors on which you can step and discover the verrière ceiling covered with blue checkers... Cool visual effects for all ages!

DEUX

Mini break at Mini Palais, the lovely café-restaurant terrace of the Grand Palais:

TROIS

Also at the Grand Palais: Helmut Newton! 

I particularly adore those huge Yves Saint Laurent portraits:

QUATRE

The perfect lunch at Passage 53 restaurant, in the historical Passage des Panoramas.

A delight. Point Final!

Voilà... Don't forget to click on those links for more!

>Video Installation at the The Roof, Four Seasons Beirut

Not often you come across funky friends (Thx Rana!) who introduce you to funky clients (Thx Christian!!) who gives you the opportunity to work on the coolest of projects with the funkiest of husbands (Thx Ghass!!)...
More details now: The Roof at the Four Seasons Beirut is a beautiful rooftop (!) lounge with Beirut at its feet... in 3 letters: W.O.W.

They just launched the summer season and they commissioned me to work on an "habillage" of their huge white walls. So I worked on an abstract blue theme with bits of videos and still images. And the plus that film director G.Koteit gave us: we filmed through a mirror in moving water, which gave even more depth to the 2:40 hours of footage we worked on. The last "Thx!" goes to Serena and her patience...

And here's the result of the mood:

To see more you'll have to go find out by yourself and have some drinks at The Roof !

> Beirut Gems

It's been a while that I didn't share with you my latest finds... Enough work, time for leisure!
3 finds on our list today: to read, to eat and to stay up beat!

To read: FIMP mag
Remember my (Ex!) students that we covered in RJmag?
Well, here they are all grown up with the guts to put on the market a magazine that needed to exist, a magazine that showcases young talents in all fields. Inspired, fresh, well designed... Pure awesomness!

Kisses and congrats to all the team! And here's where you can find FIMP...
And here's the May/June mixtape.
One little note though (can't help it, it's the ex-teacher in me!): 
A lot of people mistook the cover story title for the mag name, because of the choice and size of font... 
And the contributers/credits page could've been a little sexier compared to rest of the mag!

To eat: Yazhou by J & L Pourcel

This has opened a while ago in Abd el Wahab street but I just had the chance to taste it...

Mmmm... Pure awesomness to your palate.

Also, all the walls are covered by Jean Marc Nahas drawings, mega effect!

To stay up beat: B. boutique

This is right under my nose, two meters away from my house! But since I leave very early and come back very late from work I couldn't take a sneak peek... Last saturday I went right in and ... oh joy! Great jewelry designed by Ibrahim elZein, perfect choice of clothes, the place to go if you want to shop for you or a gift to remember...

Voilà! That's all for today's tips... Hope you try them!

I'm in the press: RJmag interview

>freshly published: pages from RJmag 8

Monoprix: Non au Junk Design!

I know I'm a bit late to post about this, but the thing is, Monoprix just re-opened in Beirut and I discovered these LIVE! I am absolutely and utterly and madly in love with these Packagings by Havas City agency...
Monoprix wanted to pay a tribute to Warhol and Pop Art as well and every Monoprix item has its perfect palette of colors, bold fonts and  the cutest little joke... I hope you understand french ;-)

(Last pic via mypackaging blog)

>Vintage Hollywood Glamour

RJmag 8 is under press right now, it will soon be in your hands.
It will be fresh, summery & full of colors as you've seen it right here...
However we chose classic black & white for the suits feature, and it is all about Musicals & Vintage Hollywood Glam. Julien Abboud did the styling, Imad El Khoury the photography, and concept and art direction by Maya Metni (me!)... It was huge fun to shoot it so enjoy the sneak peak!

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!