When Flora and Fauna Venture Indoors

Nada Debs and Salim Azzam create a beautiful narrative in wood called Patterns in Nature that was launched during the Beirut Design Fair 2019.

Known for continuously exploring new craft techniques, Nada Debs invited storyteller Salim Azzam to create a narrative for the Patterns in Nature collection. Respecting nature as the highest source of inspiration for this collaboration, the two brands cultivated ecological and ornithological awareness and presented it in the form of a handcrafted furniture collection.

Simplistic and earthy wood patterns seem to celebrate the arrival of color in the form of birds and some other times as plants that sit on these forms of function eliciting a sensation of marvel which makes for the uniqueness of this luxury furniture from the able hands of Nada Debs. Patterns in Nature follows the success of Debs’ recently released collection, ‘Marquetry Mania’ released on December 2018, which explores the handcrafted technique of marquetry by applying the designer’s signature approach to it. Comprising home accessories and furniture with a softer edge, the collection features linear forms and rounded shapes, as well as striking color combinations and mirror reflections. The universe of wood is vast and Debs and Azzam look into the flawlessness of nature by observing how the fauna makes its home within the flora, replicating this marriage into luxury furniture.

Azzam is known for his ability to connect several aspects of design together and combine them into a piece that serves a purpose. He is a storyteller, an illustrator, and a fashion designer and someone whose heart beats for his home country, Lebanon which is why everything he creates has a story of his motherland embedded in it.

During a weekend trip to a reserve in the North of Lebanon, Azzam noticed that there was an eco-system where certain birds flew to certain trees. Hence, sparrows fly to oak trees, the hippolais icterina birds love walnut trees and the olive trees gather olive-tree warblers.

With the signature geometric patterns laid out in marquetry using walnut, oak, and olive wood, along with a new craft technique developed by Debs, the collection resulted in a show of poetic synergy featuring birds, botany, and narratives of nature.

“The collection reveals the many patterns in nature, from a full-fledged eco-system comprising of birds, insects, and trees to the geometric patterns that I always use in my work as well as the beautiful patterns of the wood grains themselves,” says Nada.

The collection comprises of wall cabinets and occasional tables, each wood representing specific illustrations.

A one-of-a-kind work of art that has to adorn the space of those who celebrate design in its details.

Pics Courtesy: Nada Debs