How do designers choose their materials? This session will introduce different materials that Lebanese designers don't necessarily use or consider using while conceiving a product, in order to broaden designers’ perspectives and open new doors for creativity. Panelists will present Corian, a new material – ounovis – by baalcreations, and concrete, to then engage in conversation with participants.

Want to stimulate your creativity? This workshop is for you.

Panelists:

Zareh Sarabian is an industrial designer, founder and managing partner of TRIBUDESIGN, a product and service design consultancy firm.

Gilbert Debs blends between art, alchemy, and philosophy. He worked for 20 years in industrial research and development, where he began inventing a new way to combine materials with different properties. Since founding Ounovis by baalcreations, Gilbert is devoting his time to creating artistic panels and artworks, innovating unseen blends of materials from metals, stone, marble to wood, glass, sand and many others.

Guillaume Credoz is the founder of RapidManufactory (the printing engine of FreshyBakedToday collaborative gallery), a research and creation manufacturing lab, which developed a range of Materials for Selective Laser Sintering. It created several unique blends, like concrete, sintered digital wax and glow in the dark, through a research process. It is now working on recycling local plastics for the very large scale 3Dprinter it is currently designing, building and programming. As it houses a ceramic workshop, it also combines 3D printing and clays in some of its creations.

From 16 to 24 January, GAIA-Heritage is hosting a weeklong event of activities In Mar Mikhael within the EU-funded project MEDNETA. The event includes Toolbox: a series of free workshops for artists, craftsmen and designers.

Toolbox will be happening over 3 days: 22, 23 & 24 of January.

Day 1 will expose creatives to new technologies and innovative techniques

Day 2 will provide creatives with the needed entrepreneurial, and marketing skills to create their own businesses.

After the first two days of training artists, craftsmen and designers will spend Day 3 collaborating to create products and their respective business plans and present them to a jury. Members of the jury include: Kafalat, RDCL - Rassemblement de Dirigeants et Chefs d'entreprises Libanais, UNESCO, a design market expert and a design process expert.

To participate on Day 3, creatives need to have attended a minimum of 2 workshops on Days 1 and 2 and sign up at the IGA premises by 12pm on Day 2.

By the end of 2015, these products will be further developed between the artists, craftsmen and designers of MEDNETA’s partner cities (Athens, Tunis, Valencia, Florence and Hebron) and exhibited around the Mediterranean.

inMarMikhael