We kick off our theme on “Experimentation”, celebrating and encouraging one of the fundamental building blocks of creativity and culture, with none other than one of the world’s leading aesthetes, Nada Debs. Nada is a Lebanese designer living and working in Beirut. Her work spans scale and discipline: from product and furniture design to one-off commissions across craft, art, fashion and interiors. What ties her work together is her ability to distill culture and craftsmanship to create pieces of emotional resonance. In essence, she captures the power of the human hand to tell stories that touch the heart. She calls her approach: handmade and heartmade.
When conversing with Nada, her passion for the beauty of tangible culture and heritage was palpable, even though our conversation was over zoom. This is also true when you behold (and hold) one of her creations. The level of mastery and craftsmanship is incomparable and inimitable, no matter how many other designers try to emulate her process.
When asked about her relationship with intellectual property, she seemed genuinely happy to have "given permission" for older artisans to break the mold of traditional handling of heritage crafts. For Nada, the complexity of her work is an intellectual property tool in and of itself.
Will she be venturing into the NFT and metaverse realms? Listen to the podcast to find out!
Listen to the full episode through this link or search for #MeenWho podcast on all major podcast directories; apple podcasts , spotify podcastsA , Google podcast, Anghami and YouTube.
Also, check out Nada Deb's official website: https://www.nadadebs.com/en/home