Within the framework of the design and craft research workshop and in partnership with UNESCO’s office and the Municipality of Zouk Mikael, the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts organized a hand-made design workshop from October 29 to November 19, 2007. The project was aimed at studying the means to promote the know-how of local craftsmanship, and more specifically of hand-made weaving (the Nol) by looking for means to modernize and renew this craft production.
This workshop provided a production opportunity in collaboration with Zouk craftsmen. It thus became a field in which new solutions were experimented both on the level of the technique and the patterns used in addition to research regarding new applications and usages. Students and craftsmen worked together, exchanging ideas and know-how and exploring possibilities of using new materials. Master weaver Antoun Saade and designers/teachers Pierre Hage-Boutros and Tatiana Chartouni sought to provide a solution to the issue of promoting craftsmanship in Lebanon.
On the occasion of this workshop and in keeping with a policy of openness to international practices in this field, the Faculty invited from November 4 to November 8 Mrs. Denise Bax, a specialist in the program entitled “Point focal pour la promotion de l’artisanat” (focal point for the promotion of craftsmanship) at UNESCO’s Creative Industries Section – Paris.
Mrs. Bax’s participation in the workshop included orientation advice for the students’ and craftsmen’s works. She also presented UNESCO’s program for the promotion of craftsmanship and design, emphasizing the importance of the economic, social and human stakes linked to this issue.
The workshop’s production, history and proceedings were the objects of the exhibition “9 chapeaux et un luminaire” (9 hats and a light), which was organized from March 14 to March 20, 2008 at the Zouk Mikael old village, Impasse 10, Souk El Foukani (Upper Market). During this event, the workshop’s experience was presented, and the results of the works and the proposed solutions published. The private viewing was staged in the presence of USEK’s Vice-Rector for Research Affairs F. Georges Hobeika, Head of Zouk Mikael’s Municipality Attorney Nohad Naufal and Mr. Joseph Kreidi, program official at UNESCO’s Culture Section – Beirut. Were also present the Faculty’s Dean, Mr. Elias Tohme, Zouk craftsmen, students of the design and craft research workshop, teachers and members of the Zouk Mikael Municipal Council.