Against all odds, design festival We Design Beirut is going ahead this week. In this interview, organiser Mariana Wehbe tells Dezeen why she was determined to make it happen.
We Design Beirut is the Lebanese capital's first design week in five years, following a series of catastrophes that have reshaped the city.
Initially scheduled for late October 2023, the event was postponed at just two weeks' notice following the outbreak of war in nearby Israel and Gaza, with the violence spilling over Lebanon's border.
Above: Mariana Wehbe is the organiser of We Design Beirut. Photo by Sebastian Böttcher. Top: The festival will use the studios of PSLab, which have been closed since the 2020 port explosion. Photo by Walid Rashid
Despite ongoing airstrikes in southern Lebanon and advice against travelling to the country from many foreign governments, Wehbe and her team have decided to forge ahead with an event that they believe will make a huge difference to Beirut's battered creative industries. "The reason We Design sprouted is because Lebanon needs this," Wehbe told Dezeen. "My country needs this. Our creative community needs this."
She said that sometimes "continuing to do what you need to do" was the right course in times of crisis.
"This country needs something like this," she continued. "It needs the magic back and the hope back."
Sense of urgency drives scheduling of We Design Beirut
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