Doreen Toutikian

Through Beirut Design Week and other initiatives, this young mover and shaker has restored Beirut to its rightful spot as a leader in design and architecture in the Middle East and North Africa.

- Hala Abdelmalak

Beirut is now securely on the international design map. Six years after the first Beirut Design Week (BDW) opened in 2012, Doreen Toutikian, co-founder and president of its board, finally feels confident: “Next year we are changing the whole game, moving to the next phase. It’s finally the kind of design week we have always wanted, totally community-led.” This means open calls for exhibitions, experimental interventions, and public installations themed around citizen rights, movements, and the city.

The Lebanese capital has always been a major design influencer for the region: The inaugural Dubai Design Week in 2015 had an exhibition showcasing Beirut’s design and architectural legacy, and shows from BDW have traveled to design weeks across the Middle East. It has been a challenging process to build a critical discourse around design in a formerly war-torn country that is as complex as it is chaotic, but all good design relies on an iterative process.

“I was only 25 years old when I started, super excited but quite naive. I didn’t get the support from any of the established designers I presented the idea to,” Toutikian says.

But she never gave up, even with all the harsh criticism directed at her. “In 2012 I had a journalist call me and ask me what I thought about the fact that established designers were questioning why I would be doing their design week. They were asking, ‘Who are you? What are your credentials?’”