Happy 4th Of July

 

Happy 4th of July to all our American readers.

I remember (with lots of fond memories) the times when I used to go see the fireworks with friends when I lived in the US. I hope you all have a great day and enjoy your time with friends and family.

I was looking at our blog statistics and found that 20% of our blog readers come from the US, so we thank you for your support and for continuing to visit and read our blog.

Tareq

Harun

Like a wedge that needs support to sit straight the Harun coffee table from Shehrayar Collection is our new addition to the continuously expanding collection of modern pieces inspired by Islamic motifs. With the Palisander Arabesque inlays that have become the trade mark of this collection, the Wenge wood table is 160 cms x 70 cms.

Fish In The Fence

I got these pictures in an email a few days ago. It is an aquarium thing full of fish that is supposed to be a garden wall in a villa in Kuwait !

Looking at the pictures I feel that they look more like a rendering of an idea and not an actual structure, the movement inside does not look too real. Regardless, if we were to assume that this is an actual wall that could be executed, would you want to have it in your house ? Would you want your garden wall to look like this or does this look more befitting of a theme park ? Is this a brilliant idea or a tacky one ? I will keep my opinion to myself for now. One more point to add, I am wondering, in degrees that can reach more than 50 Celsius would this become a huge fish “BOIL”

Laila Side Table

From The Shehrayar Collection this is the Laila side table in Walnut and Palisander. As with the Laila screen each side of this simple cube has an Arabesque design that is part of a larger design which was enlarged many times to achieve an abstract modern feel which contrasts with the clean lines of the cube.

Measuring 55 X 55 cms this table is quite versatile, it can be used as a night stand, or several cubes can be grouped to form a bigger coffee table.

Icon Magazine – UK Features Wave Server

We are very excited about all the attention our Wave Server (click here to view) has been getting lately. After being featured on the home page of Designspotter in May, it was featured again in this month’s issue of the UK design magazine Icon (click name to view). This is a particularly nice issue of Icon since there is a roundup of the latest from Milan’s Salone del Mobile and covers a lot of great design topics. If you can find it were you live pick one up

Light From Within

From The Interior Of The Umayyad Mosque - Damascus

“People are like stained glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.” Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Ombra

Ombra. Shadow in Italian. This was the inspiration for this chair, a shadow of a chair that I saw in the room when the sun was setting with the shapes laying elongated on the floor. To keep that feeling of a mirage I used a textured & creased silver vinyl (normally I prefer natural fabrics). I liked the way it looked with the stainless steel sides making the wood look like an outline of a “shadow”.

  Artwork in the background by Shaker Abu Ghazaleh

Color Your Summer

We have just displayed our summer table linen collection. We are so excited about how colorful they are. All the pieces are hand made and part of a limited edition collection made especially for this summer. The fabrics have been individually chosen from several countries and are really colorful and the textures are a wonderful mix of silks, linens, hand painted organza, silk & cotton nets, cottons and some synthetic fibers to add whimsy.  We see them adding that extra kick to setting the table and dining whether indoor or outdoor. Hope you like them.

 

A Tree Full Of Orchids

In 1994 I planted two small trees I bought from a nursery. I had never seen trees like them before but I liked the shape of the leaves that looked like the hooves of a camel. Actually this is what the owner of the nursery told me they are called, camel hooves!!

The first three years they were nice green trees that kept growing without anything really remarkable except the shape of the leaves and the fact that they shed their leaves in February and would start to bud in late May early June which I though is weird. Then one year the first bloom appeared. The most spectacular flower with beautiful shades of pink. The following year the tree was in full bloom, a huge umbrella of Pinks with the most beautiful subtle scent. To my delight the other tree was a different color, white. It is my Bauhinia tree or what is commonly known as the orchid tree, and this is it. They are now almost 6 meters high and growing, It will soon loose the flowers and the green leaves will start appearing again, and will only see this beautiful canopy next year.

Sort Of “X”

In April we posted our Wave server from The Mondrian Collection. This is the dining table that is designed to go with it, Sort Of “X”. The whole set is abstract in design were we went with a fluid  design for the table base with square and rectangular openings that look different from different angles. The server follows the lines with an abstract hand inlaid design.

 

To see more of the Mondrian Collection click here. The Sort of “X” also comes as a coffee table which we have previously posted (here)

A Thought - The World Economic Situation, According To A 12 Year Old

 

Image via Windwood Farm

I thought a lot before posting this entry since it has nothing to do with design or inspiration like our other posts, well, maybe inspiration in a way, but this has to do with something that I witnessed and disliked and had to share.

The other day I was in a toy shop. A man and his son, who could not have been more than 12 years old, were next to me also looking at toys. I overheard the boy asking his father if they can buy a certain toy and the father said no because it was too expensive. To my utter shock, the boy asked his father if they could not afford it because of the economic situation. What the H…??? I could not help but ask the boy were did he hear about the economic situation from. He said that all his friends were saying that everyone will now become poor. I could not believe it.

I have watched many TV shows and read many articles saying that we as individuals along with the media are not helping with the current situation, that we are only making things worse. For it to reach a 12 year old and affect his way of thinking, I will have to agree. I think that is a bit too much, Don't you think?

I am not about to embark on an economic discussion since I may not be equipped to do so, nor am I about to discuss how people should raise their children, but I am just wondering, is this what we want our children to grow up with? What did we do to burden a 12 year old with the shape of the economy? It is already a burden on us, adults, so why pass it on to a person that will neither comprehend the problem, nor assist in resolving it even if he thought about it. We will only provide a bleak outlook. Is this what we want to teach our children? Are we raising a whole generation that thinks in terms of “lack” rather than abundance? Should we, maybe, watch what we tell our children, at least during these times. What happened to having great intensions, positive thinking and attracting what we want that only until last year was the biggest thing to talk about. If we are to believe that we form our perceptions of life based on the circumstances we grow up with and from people around us, mainly our parents, then we are giving our children a lot of issues to deal with when they are adults.

Shehrazad

 

The Shehrazad coffee table from Shehrayar Collection. The first piece was made in natural Wenge with hand applied Islamic/Damascene  inlays in Palisander. It measures 140 x 140 cms and gives the impression as if it is made of two floating blocks. We will posting more of this collection soon. To see other pieces from Shehrayar click here.

Loved & Found – Karen Ryan

While browsing one of my favorite online magazines, Dezeen, I spotted this very talented British designer and artist, Karen Ryan.

Karen says that her choice of creating designs which use discarded or unwanted objects and materials was not born out of fashion. The decision was a political one and a personal one, a reaction to the ever increasing consumer mountain of design and design waste as well as her own necessity created by a lack of money and resources.

She is definitely a designer with a conscience and a designer with a philosophy. Check her website and the articles about her on Dezeen, her work is a must see. Below are some of her chairs using pieces of old furniture she collects from around her home town. I would love to own one of them.

 

 

The Wave

 

A few days ago we put on display our new server from the Mondrian Collection, The Wave, in ebonized Oak and Palisander inlays in an abstract design that flows all the way to the sides. It was designed to coordinate with a dining set which we will show in another post soon.

The Slipper Chair – Our Take

A few months ago Patricia Gray posted about Billy Baldwin’s Slipper chair. That post gave me the idea to post about our own take of that ever so famous design that the legendary Billy Baldwin originally designed.

 

Gretta has fine legs, almost like a ballerina preparing for her dance, it was upholstered in a beautiful black silk velvet. One very important aspect of these chairs is comfort. Even though without arm rests, these chairs are very comfortable because of their inclinations.

Gretta, from The Marlene Collection

 

Inspired by the reclining nudes of Mattise, this chair looks as if it is leaning backwards in a relaxed pose. I love luxurious linens, this one was upholstered in a plain cream linen.

Reclining Nude, from The Marlene Collection

 

For our Shehrayar collection which has modernized Islamic details, I designed this low chair with a hand made Mashrabiyah back. It is beautiful to keep exposed, but would probably place a cushion when used.

Dalila, from The Shehrayar Collection

 

Another slipper chair that we have posted before is the Sasan chair also from the Shehrayar collection. It is ideal to be placed in the middle of the room to show off its back which is intricately inlaid with abstracted Islamic motifs in Palisander wood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        Sasan – front                                                               Sasan - Back         

 

Which one is your favorite ? We would love to know.

Sensation

From the Mondrian Collection, the Sensation coffee table, in walnut

Simple geometric shapes of squares and rectangles can be dramatic just by playing with their scale and proportions, their thicknesses and heights. The first “Sensation” table we made (which was natural Wenge wood) was sold almost 5 minutes after being placed in the showroom, it was still partially unwrapped. The client placed it in front of an extremely beautiful  and minimal plain white leather sofa which sat in front of 20 meters of floor to ceilings uninterrupted glass elevation with the most beautiful view,  something like this beautiful image below, minus the waterfront view. The perfect home for this piece.

Image via Nouvel Chelsea

Schematic Life is “Loving JRF”

 

I had a wonderful surprise over the weekend. Michelle, designer, author of one of my favorite blogs, Schematic Life, AND a wonderful artist that creates amazing renderings, wrote a beautiful post about qerat’s designs for JRF.

Michelle says “if items have energies”. I think they do. I believe that this is what makes us decide to buy, or want to own a piece, it is about energies. It is the energies that went into designing and making them.

Thanks Michelle.

Happy Easter

 

Happy Easter to all of you our friends, everywhere.

I know that different countries celebrate at different dates so I leave you all with the beautiful angelic voice of Fairouz. This is from the year 2003. Fairouz the Arabian diva of Lebanese origin who is known internationally for her great voice, performs the Good Friday prayers every year in a different church in Lebanon. What is worth mentioning is that both Muslims and Christians attend mass showing that great art and great artists only serve to unify countries, religions and people. Their common denominator becomes higher and purer and they rise above any differences they might have.

Fairouz is the voice that inspires, she is the voice that accompanies me when I am up very late at night creating and dreaming of creation. She is the voice that helps me float to a new dimension.

For more of Fairouz Easter hymns you can search on her channel on youtube.com.

Red & Lime

Kelly from Design Ties in one of her comments about my trip to Syria asked to see the red & lime rug I bought in Damascus. So here it is Kelly. Now that I have it at home i like it even more.

I have to add that  lime is one of my favorite colors and I love to mix it with so many other colors. It looks grand with browns, blacks, charcoals and silver tones. It looks exotic and vibrant with fuchsia, mauves, reds and orange shades. And can look fresh and country with white, yellow and some shades of blue.

This details shows the lime better

In Love With Damascus – Buildings, Restaurants & Things I Liked

 

This is the final post about Damascus. We don't want too much of a good thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Details of an entrance to a restaurant were we had lunch, this technique of decoration is created using a special kind of gel that is applied on the wood, filling a design that is drawn on the surface. When dry it is extremely hard and then can be sanded and painted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Al Thahiriyya Library. The Islamic ceiling detail is called “Muqarnasat”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above & Below Courtyard of Al Thahiriyya Library

King Al Thaher Hammam established in 985 A.D. !!! And still there

A Beautiful wood panel in one of the streets. The piece of paper is a death announcement. I thought it was strange how this is done. the name of the deceased is printed with all of their relatives all the way to grandsons and cousins so that everyone knows and can go to offer their condolences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A highlight of Damascus is Al Azem Palace (Below). Originally built in 1750 as a residence for the Ottoman governor of Damascus As'ad Pasha al-Azem. The palace now houses the Museum of Arts and Popular Traditions. The palace is really beautiful, but the museum collection and the display is a bit disappointing, but that did not take away from the beauty and splendor of the building

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A beautiful restaurant where we had dinner. The owner displays his collections and finds of different antiques from Syria and other countries

A haberdashery of plates glasses & paintingsThe group performing traditional Arabic music, notice the huge mosaic behind themThe Dervish DanceThe young Dervish, he could not have been more than 12An old horse statue that I loved

Hope you enjoyed the pictures of this trip. Damascus is a great place to visit, it was like walking in a huge real life treasure chest.

In Love With Damascus – Bab Toma

Bab Toma (The door of Toma) is as old as Al Hamidiyya. It is the predominantly Christian sector of old Damascus. As in Al Hamidiyya, walking through its narrow streets and alleys is a treat, it is like walking through a real life museum of architecture. You find the most beautiful doors, the most beautiful buildings (some almost falling down and held together with steel structures), and you find the most beautiful details. The influence is an unusual mixture of Islamic/Middle Eastern art with very European details that must have been imported and incorporated in the local designs, hence “syrianized”.

A beautiful door, could not resist the patina, the design or that lamp on the right

Details of the door

A relatively wide little alley in Bab Toma

A statue of Jesus guarding a house. Many houses also have statues of the Virgin Mary guarding their entrances

By chance we discovered a church. I love churches, especially old ones and this one was OLD. It is the Ananias Church. Ananias was a disciple of Jesus, and is traditionally listed as one of the Seventy Disciples whose mission is recorded in Luke 10. He also was the man reported in the Bible to have been sent by God to heal Paul's blindness and join him with the Church. It is said that the church used to be a house. Its not known when it was converted to a church, but it is known that it must have been before 636 AD. The old structure is underground as is seen in these pictures.

Going down the stone steps a statue of Ananias guards overlooks visitors

In a really small road, we passed by an open door. Being a bit nosy I looked through the door and young man reading the morning newspaper invited us to go in and have a look. We discovered that the house is actually open for the public only after 12 noon. Since it was quite early he asked us to be quiet while looking and taking pictures because the owners, living in the upper floor are still asleep.

The courtyard with the typical fountain

The “iwan”, the outdoor living room found in most traditional Syrian houses. This is an especially beautiful one.

Ceiling details

An interior door covered with mother of pearl

Amazing interior doors. What is curious is that each one of them had a different design, very intricate and with lots of Mother-of-pearl

A curious statue/artwork of a man pulling a Corinthian column capital

The Beauty of Damascus is that you can have breakfast in a beautiful café right next to a Roman arch. One of the main streets of Bab toma is an area dedicated for shops selling things that I as a designer would want to see. Endless shops selling rugs, old textiles and antiques. A bit expensive, but a bit of haggling would get you somewhere. I got a rug of course, the most unusual lime green and red. Walking down the long street you find remnants of Roman columns and capitals casually scattered around showing that this might have been a Roman colonnaded street

A door leading to a boutique hotel that are filling Damascus. Lots of the old houses are being renovated and turned in hotels, like the Talisman which I wrote about (here) and visited. It is one of those places that pictures don't do justice.

There are so many beautifully detailed old buildings like this one being renovated

This obviously ancient building held together with a steel structure is a very European with lots of wooden “maybe” French detailing that is just AMAZING

So many alleys and doorways like this one. I fell in love with them

The day ended in a beautiful surprise when we discovered Narinj, a restaurant in a beautifully renovated old house. We had what is probably the best Arabic food.

The courtyard of the old house is now the main dining room mixing old and modern design

Stairway leading to the ground floor, the stone and basalt are original to the house. The landing is decorated in a beautiful marble mosaic

Floors of the terrace, a traditional pattern which was found in most houses

The view from our table on the terrace. A Church and a Mosque

TAG has been tagged

 

 

Needless to say my initials are TAG, so please notice the clever play on words in the title. Thank you.
So, I have been tagged by the wonderfully elegant Canadian dame of design Patricia Gray.

Rules of the game are:
- If I am tagged, I need to give away 6 deep secrets about myself. Well, not necessarily secrets and definitely not deep, but more about likes & dislikes maybe. I hope the world is interested to know.
- I should tag 6 people.
- I should inform 5 of the 6 that I have tagged them and leave the 6th totally ignorant of this fact only to be surprised months later that they should have shared embarrassing facts about themselves but lost the chance :) OR according to Patricia, Let the 6th person wander blindly in the wilderness for 40 years, then tell them they have been tagged. Of course if the 6th person is lucky they will be daily readers of the blog and save themselves the embarrassment !!

So here we go:

1- I am a night person. I design better at night when the world is sleeping and wish I could always do that and not have to wake up in the morning to go to work.

2- I can be a “colorally” (just invented this word by the way) confused person. I love almost all colors and sometimes hate it when I cannot decide what color is a favorite of mine. I switch between extremes of totally neutral schemes and very colorful ones. I love black as much I love lime. Maybe one day I will make up my mind !

3- I HATE (not dislike, but pure hatred) mobile phones. They are intrusive and one day I will let go of mine, maybe when we redevelop our telepathic abilities. On second thoughts it would be more intrusive to have someone directly connect to your brain. Anyway will think of that when brain to brain connections are reestablished.

4- I used to be a perfectionist and proud of it, until I read somewhere that it is a disease which made sense because it made me tired & edgy all the time, so I took a few doses of carelessness and I am a recovering perfectionist. The virus reappears every now and then but in a much weaker state.

5- I love gardening, used to have a beautifully kept garden that went according to no rule of landscape design until work hours became insane. I sometimes secretly envy the gardener that he does this for a living, but would not want to trade places I love my work too much to do that.

6- I would like to take a year off and travel the world spending as much time as I want in every country I like.

Now my victims in tagging will be

Design Ties, pve designs, The Style Files, Charlie's Design Diary, Designalogue, Design Therapy

I would have loved to tag Ivan Meade and Michelle, but Patricia already did that!!

In Love With Damascus - The Mosques

Beyond the Roman arch at the end of Al Hamidiyah (see previous post) is the Umayyad Mosque. This mosque was built over a Byzantine church which was also built over the ruins of a Roman temple.
The mosque shows the mixture of all three great cultures not shy to show its origins. It holds a shrine which is said to contain the head of John the Baptist (Yahya for Muslims), honored as a prophet by Muslims and Christians alike. The head was supposedly found during the excavations for the building of the mosque. There are also many important landmarks within the mosque for the Shī‘ah, among them is the place where the head of Husayn (the grandson of the prophet Muhammad) was kept on display by Yazīd I. There is also the tomb of Saladin, which stands in a small garden adjoining the north wall of the mosque.

The Entrance to the Umayyad Mosque

All the columns in the courtyard are clad in inlaid marble with beautiful Islamic designs

The courtyard of the mosque is magnificanent. Some parts of it still show the old Byzantine mosaics that covered the walls. What struck me was how clean it was, the floors were gleaming. The courtyard is immense with the beautiful marble arches all around with the central part being dominated by the facade of the old Byzantine church.

The central courtyard of the mosque

The remains of the mosiacs that used to cover the walls

The church facade The beautifully detailed mosaics in the courtyard

One of the most beautiful ceilings I have ever seen

The interior of the mosque is just as incredible as the exterior. It is huge with beautiful ornate contrasting details, Islamic arabesque details mix with Roman columns. Mashrabiya mixes with stained Cathedral like stained glass. Huge crystal chandeliers hang from the beautifully detailed ceilings. It is amazing.

The shrine of John The Baptist or for Muslims Yahya.

The church facade viewed from the interior

After the Ummayad mosque we had to see Al Sayyidah (lady) Ruqayya Mosque, the youngest daughter of Husayn Ibn Ali, which is also the shrine that contains her grave.
The story is, after enduring the advent of Karbala and the torturous journey to Damascus that followed it, Lady Ruqayya finally died in Yazid's prison, where she was originally buried. Years later however, upon the flooding of her gravesite, Lady Ruqayya's grave was reopened and she was moved to the site where the Mosque now stands today. The mosque is an example of excess. The elaborate walls, the huge crystal chandeliers, the incredible cross vaults and ceilings covered with cut glass and mirrors. The intricate Islamic designs covering every surface. You feel you need to sit there for hours just studying the details in order to grasp them.

Magnificent domes intircately detailed and decorated

A close up of the mirrored ceilings. Could not believe the intricacy of the workmanship or the amount of labor that went into making it

The shrine of Al Sayyidah Ruqayya

Details of the intricate gold designs on the shrine

The mirrored cross vaulted ceilings

Happy Mother's Day

Klimt, Mother & child

Today is Mother's day in this part of the world. I want to wish all mothers a very happy day. A day as special as a mother is.

We have celebrated mothers before with a table from our collection titled "Mother & Child", which we have previously posted on our blog (here), that was our little contribution to our mothers.

Tareq

In Love With Damascus - Souk Al Hamidiyah

Damascus was everything I dreamt of and much much more. It had all the elements of an Arabian fantasy, all the elements of an Eastern fable and all the elements of a myth out of One Thousand and One Nights.
I fell in love with this ancient city. I wanted to peel the layers of civilizations and look through them to get to its core. You can see, touch and smell the layers of history, you get a glimpse of each layer as a proof of the existence of the peoples who lived or sometimes just passed through this great city.


My fist day had to start with Souk Al Hamidiyah, it is your ancient bazaar (and it is ancient) with all its glory, the smells, the tiny alleys and the small shops all look straight out of a fairy tale book. Fabrics and textiles mix with rugs, clothes mix with spices. Merchants calling for their products and inviting you into their shops. You walk shoulder to shoulder with people, haggle, buy and stand in awe in front of the structure that has served generations upon generations of shoppers and merchants. You think you have seen what is there to be seen only to be continuously surprised by a side alley that still needs to be discovered. A tiny walkway might lead you to another smaller souk or a hidden small mosque or a series of domes frescoed in the most beautiful designs casually acting as a canopy to shops selling modern clothes. The juxtaposition is mind boggling; the way history so easily mixes with today is shocking.

The Souk Entrance

The Main Souk. The flags were part of celebrations commemorating the birth of Prophet Mohammad

The facades and details are all original.

A close up of the shops. For some reason there is a fascination with underwear with feathers (notice the red and pink ones in the corner)

Fox furs, star fish and a weird mixture of "stuff"

Towards the end of the Souk, you can see a Roman gate with all its majesty sharing its shoulders with an Umayyad arch which in turn is supporting the walls of a tiny shop. History is treated casually in the manner of something that is common to the people, but never insulted and always held with pride like an old member of a family that is held in high esteem but familiar to everyone around them.

A bazaar literally stuck to the Roman column must be the best location in Damascus with a balcony on top (previous picture) overlooking the square

A series of open domes found in a small side alley

Under the domes shops sell wedding gowns, night gowns and .... gowns for ummm...unknown uses

The most beautiful dome with frescoes





Anyone going to Damascus has to stop at this ice cream shop, established in 1895

This and the following 2 pictures are Al Ghrawi Sweets shop established more than 100 years ago. The interior says that it must have been renovated in the 30's or 40's - Notice the ceilings

Design Ties "Sexy" Post

Just got back from Syria and what a trip that was. I will be writing several posts about that. As a post-trip bonus, I discovered that in my absence there was this great post about qerat titled "sexy-furniture-from-qerat-ooooh-la-la" on the incredibly creative blog Design Ties.

We got to know about Design Ties when both our blogs were listed among Patricia Gray's favorite top 10 blogs. Kelly & Victoria, both in the home decorating business and authors of the blog, create beautiful, different and very stimulating (sexy)!! posts about design, their design finds and their inspirations. I love Kelly's sense of humor and her use of punctuation marks especially the all too famous "!!!!!!!"

Thanks Kelly and Victoria for a beautifully written post.
Tareq

Going to Damascus

It is only a 3 hour drive and hopefully a short wait at the borders, so I have no idea why going to Damascus has remained a dream for so long. I have been there once before literally for a few hours, which only gave me a chance for a short quick walk down the historic Al Hamidiyyah souk with no time to closely look, study and inspect it the way I would have liked to.

I am going this weekend for 3 days. Finally. I will take my camera and fulfill my dream of walking around Damascus's ancient streets, taking pictures and being inspired by one of the oldest cities in the world. I will leave you with these pictures of the city until I post my own. See you next week.


Rooftops of old Damascus


Khan Asad Pasha

Exclamation !!!

Would it be weird to be inspired by a punctuation mark? Well, after designing the Apostrophe Table I thought there could be nothing wrong with designing the Exclamation!

Made out of natural Ebony & Macassar, the small round table has hidden wheels to use it as a side table if needed.



I thought it would be interesting to know that, according to Wikipedia, the exclamation mark was introduced into English printing in the 1400s, and was known as the "note of admiration" until the mid 1600s. In German orthography, the sign made its first appearance in the Luther Bible in 1797.

The mark was not featured on standard manual typewriters before the 1970s. Instead, one typed a full stop, backspaced, and then typed an apostrophe. So, finally, I found the connection, there is a relation between my two tables ! '

Our 100th Post & Patricia Gray

We have been thinking about something special for our 100th post. Ideas went back and forth about what it should be. We wanted something special. Little did we know that the topic would be handed to us by a great coincidence.


Last night I was checking a new post on Patricia Gray's blog as I do everyday, and to my extreme delight found that we were listed among her top 10 design blogs and so our 100th post was decided. It is a thank you to Patricia who continues to be an inspiration in both her design work and her blog. Thank you Patricia, it is an honor to be listed on your blog and among the other 9 wonderful blogs who all show enviable dedication, and provide great information, talent and wit!

Tareq

Shaker Console

Shaker Abu Ghazaleh, an amazing artist that creates beautiful huge abstract paintings that actually talk to me. Now, this is not just something nice to say, they really do. His work is full of passion, strength, boldness and love, when he is in love. He also is my brother.

Shaker sometimes comes up with a beautiful design for a piece of furniture that looks a lot like his art, totally unconventional and unrestricted by any rules or guidelines.

This console is one of his creations. Three pieces that attach diagonally one touching the wall the other two floating away making it look surreal. He wanted this one done in stainless steel and grey stained Zebrano wood, the legs are chunky solid beech wood.

Interview on Al Rai TV

Today, I was very happy to be interviewed on the new Lifestyle TV show "Al Haya Hilwa", or, for our English readers, Life Is Beautiful, for Al Rai TV channel. It will be airing next tuesday at 18:30 GMT.
It was fun filming the interview. I thought it will be a quick thing but ended up being a several hour complicated and detailed process, which only showed me more of the professionalism of the producer, Nadine Kirresh, who also produces and hosts another great TV show, In Focus, of which I am a great fan.
I love the title of the show. Life Is Beautiful. It can be, if we want it to be, right?
Tareq

Loved & Found - Karim Rashid Does Radiators

There are a few things I dislike when designing homes, among them are radiators and TV's. It just takes a lot of time, thinking and money even to just try to hide them or disguise them.

The radiators shown here are part of a new exhibition titled "Totally Rad: Karim Rashid Does Radiators" curated by the incredibly talented Karim Rashid which will be launched on the 4th of March at New York's Museum of Arts and Design.

These pieces are more like sculptures that any designer would like to show off. I would not mind using these pieces as centre pieces rather than against the wall!!


From left:Caleido's Rain, 2007; Caleido's Honey, 2006


Bambu, 2006, designed by Studio Dell'Acqua Bellavitis for Deltacalor


Arabesque, 2006, designed by Ron Arad for Hellos


Klobs, 2006, designed by Karim Rashid for Hellos

Pictures via Interior Design Designwire.

Console Console On The Wall.....

I like hanging consoles. I think they look good, practical and light.
This is our "V" Console from Marlene Collection. We played with different wood types, the one on top is made out of antique Oak and Cherry, and the one below is made out of ebonized Oak and grey stained Zebrano.

Loved & Found - Burlesque Launches In Dubai

This is not our normal Loved and Found. I did not exactly stumble upon this gallery, I have known about it for almost four years since that is how long Burlesque has been in the making, ever since the thought was born. One of the reasons I am so thrilled about this gallery is that it is created, designed and put together by my cousin Film director turned designer Laith Abdul Hadi

This new "concept" shop that has recently opened in Dubai is a brilliant collection of exotic pieces collected from design companies all over the world displayed side by side with pieces designed and executed by Laith himself.

Laith studied visual media & visual arts in Boston's prestigious Emerson college. In 2000 he went back to his hometown, Dubai, to work for the family owned production studios. After struggling with the decision, Laith decided to go on his own and pursue his design dreams. He started Lionart studio which created paintings that playfully reminisce on the themes of their classical predecessors, The Mona Lisa smoking, should give you an idea. For his Decadence collection of paintings, Laith worked with Swarovski crystal, which was launched in 2004 during INDEX.

His next step was to design homes and special events that earned him his reputation in the business and pushed him to create Burlesque. He wanted to break free of what is available in the market and bring his own finds that satisfy his vision.

Enjoy this tour. Click on images to see a larger picture

Stair Art

Aren't these images beautiful? I got them in the mail from a friend today. I wish I knew the who the artist was or where the locations are. I still could not resist posting them. I loved the red photgraph with the little boy walking through. So this is our red Valentine picture for you. Happy Valentine everyone.

4 Curves

Our 4 Curves Bed from the Japasia Collection. Made of four concave natural wenge squares, each measuring 1 meter by 1 meter this bed is a statement. It is not for the light hearted!

The total height is 2.40 meters demanding a high ceiling, but when we placed it in a regular sized bedroom the whole space seemed to double visually.


The night stand takes the same shape as the headboard with two drawers.

Loved & Found

The French company SDA has this beautiful bathtub made out of River Stone that is cut,hollowed and handpolished. The dimensions, shapes and colours are different from one bathtub to another, as well as the weight (between 800kg and 1 ton) Each bathtub is a unique piece. Will Defenitely look for a place to use it. Their website also features other beautiful pieces made of natural materials.

HAJI

I love books.
As much as I like to read them, I also like to display them. I even like people who read !! whenever I walk into a home full of books I immediately feel closer to the owners. That is why I take my time designing bookcases that I would enjoy looking at, bookcases that would make a feature out of books in any room.

This is the Haji bookcase from our Japasia Collection. It is made out of ebonized and natural oak. Being wall mounted with thick glass shelves penetrating the wood sides it looks very light and the books stand out.

Ray

From our Mondrian Collection our Ray coffee table. It is dramatic in size, measuring 150 cms X 150 cms and made out of walnut and natural Palisander inlays for the rays.

We are working on making it in other wood types, such as ebony and Macassar.

In Conversation with Tareq - qerat

Recently I was very happy and honored to be interviewed by Meade Design Group. Ivan, the founder of the design group is one of my favorite designers & bloggers. He has interviewed many outstanding designers such as Barbara Barry, Vicente Wolf, Patricia Gray & Martyn Lawrence Bullard among many others whom I truly admire and respect, it is such an honor to be among them.

This is the link to the interview In conversation with Tareq - qerat, Meade had also previously chosen one of our pieces as "Eye Candy Of The Week"

I love Meade's creativity expressed using many different media and realized in many projects. Take a look at Meade's projects and designs at their website and visit the blog for Ivan's picks and inspirations

Gazelle

While watching the amazing documentary Planet earth, there was this beautiful shot of a herd of Gazelles just walking and grazing. They looked so graceful & elegant. I knew I was seeing a new design.

This is the result, a slender console table in walnut and stools in beech. They remind me of the legs of those Gazelles while walking.

The stools can be stowed under the console in an entrance and the lines of the legs will follow each other beautifully, or they can be used separately giving a nice play of lines in a room.

We have to thank Meade Design Group for their comment about the symmetry of the piece that was not very clear in the above photos. We thought that adding the image below showing the side elevation of the console were the inclination of the legs is clearer would give a better view of the legs.

A Day @ D'Orsay - 2

This is the second part of pictures of my trip to this great museum.


The chair above is among my favorite chairs of all time !!

A Day @ D'Orsay - 1

It is a beautiful museum. You are overwhelmed with beautiful art, beautiful surroundings, and great collections. I would need a week to really fulfil my desire to get to see each and every piece of art housed in this monument. I could go on and on, however, I will dedicate this post to the beautiful furniture, specifically the chairs I saw at the Musee D'Orsay. The pictures speak for themselves. We had such great designers to draw from and be inspired by. These are some of the designers that broke the familiar borders and redefined design.

The Walk To The Musee D'Orsay

One beautiful sunny September day in Paris, we walked all the way from our hotel to The Musee D'Orsay (a long walk). Walking in Paris is a treat by itself, so much to see, so much to take in, so many details it can make you dizzy with an over dose of beautiful design. I love the walk to the museum with all the antique shops along the way, so many, you dont know where to start.

Unfortunately, it was quite early that Sunday morning, most of the shops were closed, so I had to make do with looking at these beautiful creations from the outside and taking pictures of them through the windows. These are all antique & vintage pieces, I only wish I had more information about them.


I am not a great photographer, but the spots in the pictures are the glass reflections that I could not avoid. I am not that bad!!
Enjoy
Tareq

The Sea Spider

A male sea spider carries its eggs on specially adapted appendages under its body. It is one of many possible new species from the Antarctic. A multi million dollar 'Census of Marine Life' is on track for completion in 2010, assessing about 230,000 known marine species. It has identified 5,300 likely new species of everything from fish or corals. So far, 110 have been confirmed as new. (Cedric d'Udekem, Royal Belgium Institute for Natural Sciences 2007/Census of Marine Life handout/Reuters)

Isn't nature amazing? I kept going back to look at this photo, it could be an abstract painting, it could be an inspiration for a color theme, OR, it could be an inspiration for a new piece for our Spider Collection.
Tareq

Libra

The Libra console from our Marlene Collection.



Happy New Year everyone.
The first day of a new year, a new begnning and we wanted to start it with "balance", so we thought this picture of our Libra console was appropriate. Have a great start, intend the best and wish for the best. It has been 6 months since we started our blog and we want to thank you all for your support, your readership and your comments. It has been a great experience.
Thanks again and have a great 2009 from all of us at qerat.

Happy New Year

Stunning photographs of staircases I received in the mail today.


All of us at qerat would like to wish you A HAPPY NEW YEAR. May the coming year be full of love & happiness and your life an upward journey to success.

Al Salt -3- The Doors

The doors of AL Salt have been the source of inspiration for many artists, painters and photographers alike. I had to see for myself. I was equally inspired and had to share them with all of you.







We leave you with this magnificent door. Hope you liked Al Salt series.

Merry Christmas Everyone & Happy Birthday Shaker

Merry Christmas everyone.
I wish happiness, health & prosperity to all our readers, friends and family. Today is also a special day for us for another reason, it is my brother's birthday.


Not only is he my baby brother and we work together, but, he is one of my favourite artists to say the least. I fell in love with Shaker's paintings since he was 8 or 9 when he drew his first Tweety and Mickey Mouse to perfection. I fell in love with his art when he was 13 and tried to discover his own path with paintings that looked much older and more sophisticated than his age. I still love his paintings when he is 34 and will only look forward to see what he will dream up next.


So Happy birthday Shaker.
Love
Tareq

Al Salt -2- Saint George Church

My trip to Al Salt was primarily to visit this old beautiful church. After seeing it I thought it would be the perfect post for Christmas. SO, here is a great big Merry Christmas to all our friends all over the world. We wish you a peaceful beautiful holiday and a wonderful New Year full of happiness, love and serenity.


One day a man from one of the prominent families of Al Salt took his sheep out of the castle to graze. He went back late in the evening to find that the castle doors were already closed for the night as they normally closed them after sunset and would not open them again until the following morning. He found a nearby cave and spent the night there. During the night he was awakened by the voice of Saint George who appeared to him riding on a horse and holding his spear.
The Saint asked the religious man to build a church in his name on this holy site and as a sign he asked him to leave his sheep to graze alone and no beast will touch them. The following morning the man told everyone of his vision. The village people went to the cave and found the sheep surrounded by wolves only to flee when it saw the people. They believed the man and built the church. So goes the legend of how this beautiful church was built.
Since the third quarter of the seventh century the church of St. George has been one of the attractions of visitors and pilgrims from Jordan and all over the world. Many people also believe that many miracles have happened in this church.





The ancient cave where people pray asking St. George each for their own miracle to happen. It is said that this cave is the original holy site used for prayers since the 3rd century A.D.

Al Salt -1- The City

Al Salt, pronounced "As sult" is in the west central part of Jordan. I have been several times to this beautiful city but never really visited it. In the past, many artists have drawn inspirtion from its ancient houses and their beautiful doors, it's nature and light and history. So this past Al Adha holiday I decided to go see for myself especially after a friend visited the old church of Saint George. The pictures he brought back with him intrigued me to go take my own pictures and post about it. It was such a beautiful day. A beautiful and inspiring walk back in time which left me feeling exhilirated and full of inspiration.

The Butterfly

From The Marlene Collection this is our Butterfly Chair. It was made in several fabrics, beige linen, brown suede, burgundy art deco inspired fabric, this blue one somehow looks a lot like the actual butterfly that inspired it.

Another Centipede

From the Spider Collection this is The Centipede. This collection is defenitely modern in its clean lines and curves. With this piece however, I wanted to hint at classical detailing with the grooves under the top, the black inlaid lines on the top and the curved legs.

Laila Screen

From our Shehrayar collection this is the Laila screen. In Arabic Laila means night, or the dark night.
The arabesques are very old Islamic designs that were given a new life by abstracting them, taking a small part of a larger design and enlarging the original size tens of times. Each panel is made of 4 squares measuring 50 cms each. It is a great visual separator in rooms that can be modern, classic or eclectic. I would love to see it with leather couches and some Stainless steel accents. This piece was made of Cherry and Solid Beech.

A Moment In Time

Every now and then I take a pictures of a certain display or setup at our showroom and I like it more than others. I keep them hidden in my folders away from the ones that are professionally taken. These pictures are more personal. They might have a fond memory or a nice event attached to them. This is a picture from that private folder from the year 2000.
The event? Our annual showroom reception party.

Hope you like it
Tareq

Happy Eid Al Adha

To all our family members, friends & clients, we wish you a very happy Eid Al-Adha. We wish you peace, well being and happiness. It is a long vacation so have fun and relax.

The picture above is from my home, this is the front of an old bridal chest that I found many years ago. It could either be Jordanian or Syrian and still has its original paint and colors. It now sits in this niche with a Syrian glass bottle in front of it. I love its details, colors and the little carved rosettes in the middle.



Happy Eid
Tareq

The Beautiful Zebra

I think Zebras are very elegant animals. Wouldn't you base a whole theme around this picture?
Dont the colors remind you of a beautiul bungalow in Africa? Beautiful white slip covered sofas, black cushions, a beige rug, rough textured walls the color of clay and white sheer fabric for the curtains. The room would have accents in the palest blue you can find.
Simply beautiful

Connie Chaise longue

This is a favorite Chaise longue. It was conceived at one of those moments when you feel good, artistic and "curvy". A moment when you sketch something freehand and it feels complete, ready to be manufactured. My friends always say that I cannot move away from straight lines, well, here is the proof.

But this will be a favorite chaise for other reasons too. I decided to name it after my dear friend Connie from Texas, who passed away last week. We had this little private joke, Connie would always say chaise "lounge" and I would correct her and make fun of it and tell her it is Chaise "Longue" stressing the French accent & trying to be smart with the little French I know. I will always smile whenever I see this piece.
She will always be loved & remembered as my dear dear friend and one of the nicest kindest people I ever knew. Her heart was as big as the unconditional love she offered to everyone in her life. Naming a piece I designed after her is my little tribute to this great person.

Transformation

"Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun" Pablo Picasso.


The "C" bench from our Polka collection in natural wenge and linen.

Jordan River Foundation Project - 5- The Launch

So, last night was the big night.

Under the Patronage of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah the JRF 2009 Designer Collection was launched.

In a beautiful & very successful event, Her Majesty toured the showroom to view the collections of each designer which were displayed in three sections of the beautiful old house.

There was a large number of invited guests and very good media representation from most satellite channels. We are all happy for the success of the event and the incredible reaction from everyone that attended the function. We are also excited about the huge media coverage that will help the project in gaining more exposure which will assist in achieving its goals for supposrting more women and their families.

This has been a great experience for all of us on both personal and professional levels. I am sure anyone that follows our blog already knows how I feel about it, so I will leave you with a few pictures from my collection. I will post pictures of the other collections as soon as I have them.



Silk bedspreads with wool weaving in the background mixing modern and Islamic designs

The linen room, full of beautiful embroidered linen, felt & silks in neutrals. the benches are very minimal contrasting with the wool weaving with a modern design.





The black room. Silver and lavender silks all beautifully embroidered in black. The cubes in the back are plain wool weaving used as upholstery.

Several websites and publications have started writing about the event and showcasing the products. This is the first link we found. JRF will soon have the new collection on the website where online ordering is available.

Elle Bench

The Elle "L" Bench is a very versatile piece. It is on wheels making it the perfect piece to move around where needed. We made it in two sizes and two different woods, ebonized oak (above), and natural wenge (below).

Jordan River Foundation Project -4- The Showroom

JRF's Showroom is located in one of the most beautiful parts of old Amman, Jabal Amman first circle area. It sits among the serene old gardens of some of the oldest & most beautiful houses in the city. The JRF house consists of three buildings, the main house and two other smaller houses. I am in love with that area. It is such a treat to go there early in the morning; it is amazingly quiet given its proximity to the heart of the busy downtown area.
Since I have been talking so much about this project I thought it would be nice to show you the area and the showroom itself before the launch and before a peak at the designs. The location adds so much to the designs. The house itself, its details, the natural light coming through the narrow wooden windows, the contrast of modern and old, all come together to create a beautiful experience for the visitor.



















The streets leading to JRF




















The Entrance & The Main House

The Main House typical architecture of the period. Beautiful windows

The Second house

The door to the third house (or as it has become known to me, My House) with the fragrant Jasmine hiding it.























Different pictures from the grounds of the showroom. Parts that I like, an old door that is not used anymore, a tree trunk that is big enough for a child to sit inside it.

Jordan River Foundation Project -3- The India Trip

Once the theme & the designs were finalized, we started looking for fabrics for the final products. We needed fine, sophisticated fabrics that would suit the design dierection. Silk and linen in all sorts of colors were the main two fabrics needed, and what better place to find them than in India.

So, to India we went, me, Maysoon and Rozi, JRF's resident designer.

I always dreamt of going to India. I was in love with a country without ever setting foot there, and I was not disappointed. It was as colorful, exotic and rich as I imagined it would be. I only wish I had more time there.




Dazzling colors wherever you go

Each designer had a color theme; mine was a collection of neutrals, golds, shades of bronze, silver, blacks & browns. I have to admit that being in India does not help with such a theme; India wants you to go Orange, red, lime and yellow. BUT I persevered and stuck to my theme. Maysoon had an easier time, her collection was more colorful!!

But India inspired in other areas,



Their exquisite embroidered fabrics, their exquisite handmade items were all very inspiring. The wealth of architectural details and designs were amazing. Wherever you look there is something to fathom. Unfortunately most of the time we were either indoors in meetings, sourcing fabrics, making choices and placing orders, or caught in the suffocating traffic that taking pictures was not a priority nor a possibility! It was all done in 4 days.



One day I will be back

Jordan River Foundation Project -2- The Inspiration

I have been looking forward to post about the design stage for the JRF project. It was an exciting & challenging stage for us. It took us a couple of months and several meetings to come up with our new ideas. We all agreed that the general design theme had to be Jordanian in nature; we had to use the wealth of our artistic heritage for this collection, after all this is a Jordanian foundation that is promoting Jordan and its arts along with its bigger mission to empower Jordanian women.

As I said in the previous post, we wanted to have a modern look that would use local themes and details but in a new context. This was the challenge, to take ancient details, ethnic cultural motifs and abstract them in a way that would look great in any interior. In this post I will share a few samples of the mood boards that each designer created. They reflect the look, inspirations and some of the designs in their early stages. Each designer had his/her own take on the theme.
(If you click the images you can see a larger picture)

Tareq
I wanted a modern Islamic designs collection. I was inspired by the designs that are abundant in the ancient desert castles.


Cushions


Robes


Table Linen


Bed Covers




Rugs

Maysoon
Maysoon was also inspired by Islamic designs as she was by Jordan's nature & flowers.


Rugs


Cushions


Flowers Of Jordan cushions


Place mats & Napkins

Zeina
Zeina took Arabic calligraphy nature & animals, simplified them, and used them for her children’s collection (She has the most beautiful boy, Karim, who has become my friend during the long shooting sessions)


The Themes


Blankets


Children's Furniture

MAYA
Maya decided to do a classical theme inspired by the old embroidery from the villages & cities of Jordan


Table Settings

Jordan River Foundation Project - 1 - The Discovery

So, now it is public and I can talk about this incredible project (and experience) that I have been part of for the last year. I have wanted to talk all about it for a while but not before the launch date was set and the media campaign has started. It is The Jordan River Foundation Project

It was a year ago that Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah ordered the establishment of the Creative Advisory Board. The mission of the board would be to redesign the entire line of products for Jordan River Foundation (JRF), and create a new strategy that would reposition JRF, locally and internationally as a brand of exquisite handmade home furnishings. For the design part of this new project, I am a member of the board, along with Maysoon Haymoor, Zeina Chamas Otoum, and Maya Nakhleh.

Jordan River Foundation is an amazing non profit organization founded in 1995 and chaired by Her Majesty Queen Rania. Along with its many goals, JRF’s primary mission is to empower women by utilizing their handicrafts capabilities and providing them with ongoing projects that would guarantee a constant stream of income. JRF aims at creating sustainable viable projects for women that would guarantee employment by, not only utilizing, but also developing their handicraft capabilities and entrepreneurial skills, thus creating a better and safer life for women and children.



The project produces a vast array of products ranging from traditional rugs, embroidered soft furnishings, banana leaves baskets and candles. I was very happy and honored to be part of such a project given what it means to combine both design and social work, what could be better? As members of the Creative Board, each designer embarked on a mission to create an individual collection of new designs and new product lines that would be a complete departure from pure traditional designs. Our goal was to have modern, high quality designs that would fully utilize the ladies’ capabilities and modernize local Jordanian design elements using them in a new context that would render them unique and add to their originality.



The first day we met to have our orientation visit. We were taken to The Bani Hamida Mountain, a rural area about one hour away from Amman. There, an entire village is heavily dependant on the income generated by the rug weaving of its women. I was first impressed when we were greeted by the center manager, a woman wearing a modern suit and a head scarf; there was nothing rural about her. When she took us around to show us the project I saw that I was in front of a person that is out spoken, eloquent and defenitely a strong figure. This lady leads the women that produce the beautiful rugs which is an art as old as the area itself. She guides them, distributes customers orders making sure colors, sizes and designs are understood, performs quality control checks (she does not take this lightly), and even advises on financial issues. The personal story of this lady is worth telling, if only I got her permission. A few facts worth mentioning though, is that she is deputy director of the municipality of Bani Hamida mountain. I believe she is the first lady to ever hold that post. She volunteers as the president of the healthy villages development project, and on a lighter note the first lady to get a drivers license in that part of the country. She drives her pick up truck to go around the smaller villages to deliver orders and check on the weaving progress.



At the village, there was one lady that I will never forget. Sitting under a 100 year old fig tree, with shoulders as broad as a body builder’s from daily beating on the ground loom, she was weaving a long narrow beautiful runner. She has built a small house on her land surrounded by her olive trees, sent 4 of her children to the university with the fifth on his way, all from the pay she receives from weaving. Mother teaches daughter, sisters cooperate, and family members guard this age old art in their homes. It is an incredible community where the general atmosphere is more like a sisterhood. They help each other collecting olives when it’s the season, they help each other harvest, and some even help a friend finish a rug that is behind on schedule.



That day I felt humbled. I know, my friends reading this will probably raise an eyebrow since they have heard all this a million times in the course of last year, but I can’t help it. I really felt humbled by these hard working women, who, for a large part are single mothers making it against all odds and all adverse conditions. They have sacrificed any idea of luxury for themselves for the sake of raising a family that would break the boundaries and confinements of poverty and have a choice for their future.
We went from home to home, looking at the different weaving techniques and the different designs trying to educate ourselves for the upcoming design phase. Different looms produce different rugs, each design requires a special technique and some designs cannot be made. There was a lot to take in and a lot to know.

a View of Jabal Al Nathif

Back in Amman, we went to visit Jabal Nathif Center were all the sewing and embroidery is made. Again, the same impression and the same awe inspiring women. Like a bee hive they were all running around, working, stitching and organizing their customers’ orders. The atmosphere here was a professional no nonsense workshop. Here we have another success story. Amal, the center manager, started with JRF as a seamstress, later becoming production & training manager and working her way up to become manager of this center.


Left: some of my cushions being made. Right: A Cushion by Maysoon

To begin with I was happy and flattered that I was asked to be part of such a project, but that day there was something bigger and deeper that moved me. Something bigger and better than flattery & design. It was not a sense of duty; it was this weird mixture of emotional energy and pride. A feeling of I HAVE to be part of this and I HAVE to make a difference. I always knew about JRF, their work and their mission, but I have to admit that, like many, I knew nothing about the women behind the scenes, their lives or their stories. Now, I watched them, talked to them and will work with them. They do live in rural areas where I thought certain social norms and traditions prevail, until I met these ladies. My preconceptions changed, and any stereotype was destroyed. They are strong, independent & determined women. This project has changed them and changed the social fabric of that society. If JRF's mission is to empower women, then mission accomplished, because we felt it first hand.

The launch event for the new collection titled “Flowing Line” is on the 26th of November under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah. So, if you live in Amman or planning a trip you have to visit starting from the 27th of November.

I will be posting about the design stage and the new designs soon. I hope this was not too long, I guess I got carried away.

Meade Design Group

What a great way to start a day. Today I had a wonderful surprise early in the morning.

I daily check my favorite blogs. While checking on my particularly favorite Meade Design blog I was happily surprised to see that they had a new post about qerat.

I want to thank Ivan for taking the time to write all these beautiful things about qerat and me personally. Coming from a multi-talented designer like him, whose work I highly admire meant a lot to me. I constantly visit his blog and website and have always loved his interiors and his graphics work that show such a refined sense of style.

Thanks again Ivan for making my day.

Do visit the Meade Group's website for a tour of refinement
and the blog for great design information.

Tareq

Blog, Comments & Other Things

Dear Friends,

We have been blogging for 5 months now and it has been a great great experience and adventure. I was hesitant at the beginning to start this venture out of fear that we would not be able to cope with constant, almost daily posting like all the other great blogs that we admire and regularly visit. Some post more than once a day!! So the idea of the pressure of having to stay on top of it scared me. However, we did, and I love every minute of it.

Along the way we installed several softwares that track number of visitors, hits, page views etc... I am daily surprised with the number of people visiting and equally happy to know that they come from many diverse places and countries. Having said all this, and now confident that we do have good readership, given the age of the blog, we would like to know more about your likes and dislikes, what more would you like to see? What would you like us to post about? We would appreciate your comments and emails since that would help us in direction, choice of content and design of the blog, after all this blog was created to interact with you all.

We look forward to hear from you.
Tareq

Soft Again!

Thursday evening
Time to relax for the weekend in this part of the world.
Will leave you with these two cushions in strips of different brown fabrics, velvet, leather, suede, faux fur, faux crocodile and a shiny fabric I never ever dreamt of going close to but it seemed to do the trick!!!



Have a happy weekend
Tareq

Water Designs !

I got an email today with a slide show titled "Water". I thought the title was strange until I saw the images. You can judge for yourselves. I chose the two that inspired me the most.



The photography is beautiful and captures a moment that we would never see without the genius of the artist that took these images. I can base a whole room around these shots and their wealth of colors & tones. As I have said before, if we can only capture the perfection of nature's coloring.

A Moment In Time

I wanted to share this picture of our showroom in Amman for those who don't know it.



The sofas are part of our Japasia Collection. Artwork by Shaker Abu Ghazaleh, in mixed media on natural wood (with the bark still on it). The bench from Marlene Collection, in Palisander and faux pony hair, now lives in Ireland.
Hope you like it
Tareq

Time To Go Soft

It has been a while since we posted any picture of our soft furnishings collection. So these are two of the new appliqué and hand embroidered cushions collection.



We kept the colors quite neutral for this collection in beiges, browns & blacks. The design is hand applied and then hand embroidered along the edges to give them the final elegant touch. The fabrics are in different linens and suedes.

The Clip

This is how it really happened, from a clip.



Holding that clip I saw a table which then became a coffee table, dining table and a console. God knows what else will come out of it. The artwork on top is a serigraph by Frost. We designed the frame to echo the circle in the painting and to break the straight lines of the console.
Tareq

The Scribble

The Scribble is a very sculptural table that demands its own space and lighting. It is a flattened "S" shape that is more of a scribble than an "S" and I have to add not very easy to make!



This one was made in Zebrano with a dark stain. I would love to see it in other wood types, such as Ebony. We are also working on other pieces that go with this console.

Finally Finished

I bought these chairs almost 2 years ago. I fell in love with them. I liked their simple lines, and I could see beyond their scratches and the abuse of time. Actually I might have liked them because of their age. The man told me they are office chairs from the 60's. I could see that they would look great in my office (The project that refuses to finsih). We hand repainted them to keep them looking old, but could not decide how to upholster them until I finally found this lime silk damask.



They have a nice little detail where the arm meets the seat.

Untitled #AC1

From our Mondrian Collection, this is The Untitled #AC1 arm chair. It was initially designed to go with The Mondrian Couch. The idea was to create a set that does not really "match". We were so happy to see that clients also bought it separately to mix it with other styles too. You might be seeing it in a love seat and maybe a 3 seater sometime soon.