When I first started my brand in 2013, I was doing so without much of a plan. I had moved back to Lebanon in a way that wasn't entirely of my choosing, having failed to secure a work permit in France to stay on at the job I had at Damir Doma as a Parsons student.
I started the brand the way many people in their mid-twenties start projects, without much of an idea where it was going, and with a lot of support from friends and family.
The original brand logo designed by my cousin Joelle Ghanem, the swing tag designs by Tala Safie, and the first version of the 'stitch icon' I drew have all served me well. But as the brand has evolved, as I have put together a plan for where I see it and myself as a designer, as I've moved to a new country, I thought it was time for a new beginning.
Last month I enlisted the help of the wonderful design duo Paul & Maud in Brussels. We discussed my work, London, the deep relationship I have with Beirut, my wishes to remain an intimate and artisanal designer, how I want to be a responsible designer. Not as a buzzword, but as a real way of being.
And here's what we came up with. A reworking of the typography on the logo and of the stitch that emerged during the Hyphen collection, and which finds its way onto all my pieces.
I am happy to have this new design as the cloak I'll wrap around myself on this next stage of my journey as a designer.
