Mansion Residents

Mansion houses 10 studios and offices for permanent residents, also known as ‘Mansioners’. Offering flexible, low-rent studios in a collectively shared, creative environment in Beirut is an essential part of Mansion’s essence, and we are proud to share this space with:
 

GHAITH&JAD

Ghaith Abi Ghanem & Jad Melki received their Bachelor of Architecture degree from the American University of Beirut in 2012, and were granted the Areen Award for Excellence in Architecture for both their final year projects. They have previously interned at Raëd Abillama Architects in Lebanon and at Herzog and de Meuron in Switzerland, which gave them insight into the professional world of architecture. 

Their work gives particular importance to the design process and allows the experimentation to freely sculpt their designs. They focus on being true to material and responsive to context, and that is core to any of their projects.

Ghaith & Jad continue their design explorations through their studio at “Mansion” a reclaimed 19th century residence that houses multidisciplinary designers under one roof. 
They were selected by Starch Foundation to redesign the STARCH 2014-2015 boutique and launch their own line of products.







FANNY SELLER
 
The work of Fanny Seller addresses the temporality of the trace, the archaeological memory of the body, the identity of childhood, and the ‘progressive’ migration of the image. Through her works she questions the contingency of time and space, by resuming contact with collective memory. Negotiating the immutability of images, she re-draws them, rearrange them, providing them with a new material existence in the form of reverse glass painting and painting on canvas. The subjects of the images become decontextualised through this process, which simultaneously rids them of their initial narrative environment, while revealing a fragment of reality.

Fanny Seller earned a Masters in Contemporary Art History from Sorbonne University and a Master of Advanced Studies in Cultural Management from Paris before arriving in Beirut in 1997, she taught Art History for Architecture students at ALBA (Académie Libanaise des Beaux Arts). She took part in the first icon restoration workshop in Lebanon.
Following this, she then pursued a five-year training course in the conservation and restoration of paintings at La Cambre University (ENSAV) in Brussels. Having returned to Beirut yet again, she now teaches yoga to children and leads creative workshops for young people entitled "Recycl'Art" at the French Institute media library in Beirut.

Exhibitions:
2014 : Participation at « Beirut Art Fair » with the Gallery « Art on 56th »
2014 : Solo exhibition at the French Institute in Beirut
2013: Collective exhibition "Beirut Bloom" Contemporary Art Fair in Artheum space, Beirut (Lebanon)
                                                                                        2013: Collective exhibition at Loman's House, Dakar (Senegal)
Fanny Seller is represented by the gallery “Art on 56th” in Lebanon. 56th Youssef Hayeck Str, Gemmayzeh Beirut, Lebanon Tel:+961 570 331 +961 570 333 info@arton56th.com



 
Zumra 

We are zumra, a graphic design studio based in Beirut, Lebanon, founded in January 2013 by Ayman Hassan and Ziad Bou Assi.

Our process of work, from beginning to end, is based on expressing our thoughts, ideas, and concepts formalistically. This culminates into a visual which is seen, experienced, and hence understood, rather than explained.



 

Deghri Messengers

Deghri Messengers offers fast, reliable delivery across Beirut by bicycle. Businesses and organisations all over the city has realised the excellent value in having their urgent delivery needs handled by the team.
Deghri Messengers is a project implemented by CyclingCircle s.a.r.l. Together they work to promote cycling in Beirut, led by the belief of its health benefits and potential to create a cleaner, safer urban environment.




Ayssar Arida & Sabine de Maussion  


Ayssar Arida and Sabine de Maussion recently founded urbacraft ,The City Crafting System, an innovative educational urban design construction toy, and have been hosted by Mansion since July 2014.

Ayssar Arida is an urbatect, writer, designer and entrepreneur. 
His first book, Quantum City (2002) looked at the dynamics of chaotic cities like Beirut through the lens of new scientific paradigms. He lectures internationally and has held teaching positions at the American University of Beirut and Lebanese American University.Ayssar ran trans-disciplinary agency Q-DAR development | architecture | research for 13 years moving between Beirut, London and Paris,and consulted for major international cultural and educational institutions including over 5 years with Parsons The New School For Design of New York. Joining the nascent clustering of creative industries in the region, he launched URBATECTURE Urban Design Thinking in Beirut in 2012, working in architecture, urban design, culture and education consultancy, and toy and videogame design and development. 
Ayssar’s work received the Cityscape Dubai/Architectural Review Award 2005 and MIPIM 2006 Best of Show, and Netherlands Games Award 2013 for the game RETROREDUX CORE80.


Sabine de Maussion is a cultural consultant, researcher and curator. She holds a Master in Postcolonial Studies (La Sorbonne), and a Master in Economics of Culture (Dauphine), is trained in the History of Art and Arabic Language and Civilization (Licence, Inalco, Paris), and is currently a PhD candidate in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths College (London). 
Sabine is an expert researcher on publics of culture and on educational programmes. She lectures in the Masters of Curating and Art Criticism at Universite Saint Joseph in Beirut (USJ). She occupied senior positions in different cultural, artistic, and governmental institutions in France, including as director of the Arts Department at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Relations Officer at Le CENTQUATRE/Paris, Education and Learning Programmes Officer at the Centre Pompidou/Paris, and Curator at La Villette/Paris. She has worked as a Cultural Officer at the French Institute of Damascus (3 years) and Cairo (2 years).
 








REGARD BICYCLE KITCHEN

Regar is a kitchen of ideas and creative impulses in the service of bicycles and cyclists.
The crew is a get together of enthusiasts from different disciplines brought together by their passion for eco-friendly two wheeled structures. Regar is 10m2 of the Mansion Zqaq El Blatt where we lovingly restore old unloved bikes to their former glory. It is a cooking pot of creative thinking of urban cycling in the Beiruti context.
If you have a bike that you haven't ridden for years, that's been rusting away in the cellar with no one to ride it, think about donating it to Regar - it will be lovingly restored and helped to find its new owner.
If you've been riding your bike every day for ages but never showed it any tender loving care, bring it to Regar and learn how to give it what it needs.









Mansion also hosts a silkscreen collective :

check out its activity at