Meghedi Simonian and Houssam Kanaan, founders of Kann Design. (Credit: Élodie Daguin)
The story begins in Beit Shabab, a small village in the Metn region where life has always been shrouded in a certain old-fashioned slowness, punctuated by the hands that weave, interrogate the pottery, knead the wax and stir the chimes from the old bell factories. Here, Kanaan Kanaan, a native of the region, set up his cabinetmaking workshop a stone's throw from the family home in 1958. From then on, his exceptional craftsmanship was noticed and the cabinetmaker began producing wooden furniture for Beirut galleries, which flourished then. He also designed them for residential projects in the region, where the Lebanese bourgeoisie of the time built villas and houses far from the city, in the shade of pine trees shaken by the wind and the song of elytra. Read more Outsider in a mosh pit: A night with Beirut’s punks While designing an...
The story begins in Beit Shabab, a small village in the Metn region where life has always been shrouded in a certain old-fashioned slowness, punctuated by the hands that weave, interrogate the pottery, knead the wax and stir the chimes from the old bell factories. Here, Kanaan Kanaan, a native of the region, set up his cabinetmaking workshop a stone's throw from the family home in 1958. From then on, his exceptional craftsmanship was noticed and the cabinetmaker began producing wooden furniture for Beirut galleries, which flourished then. He also designed them for residential projects in the region, where the Lebanese bourgeoisie of the time built villas and houses far from the city, in the shade of pine trees shaken by the wind and the song of elytra. Read more Outsider in a mosh pit: A night with Beirut’s punks While designing...
