Working with an empty unstudied space and turning it into a visual marvel is not everyone’s cup of tea. It is an art. While many try their hands at designing spaces, very few excel at it.
The work speaks for itself just like the corridors of Al Rayyan Radio Station at Souq Waqif, designed by Bachir Mohamad, a Lebanese artist based in Doha. Inspired by musical notes, Mohamad designed the interior of this traditional building mixing elements of the contemporary with the classic.
Holding a degree in Archaeology of Arab and Islamic World and having trained as an interior designer, Mohamad has so far designed multiple buildings in Doha since joining BluRibbon Design Atelier in 2012 as Projects Manager and Senior Interior Designer.
His unique trait is his personal touch to every space that he works with. Mohamad designs his own furniture pieces to go with the concept. And his inspiration is Arab and Islamic architecture.
“I usually work with modern Arabic and Islamic patterns. My inspiration is usually derived by local architectural features, by the Islamic artefacts and monuments. Sometimes I also do classic work mostly from the Renaissance and Middle Period,” Mohamad tells Community in a recent chat, a few months before the launch of his second solo exhibition of interior design pieces.
“But there is nothing pure. It is never purely modern or classic. We like to mix the two most of the times,” says the designer.
Having a degree in Interior Design and one in Islamic Archaeology, he tries to mix both of them. After all archaeology, he says, is about art and design. “In interior design we do learn about the history of things otherwise how would we get inspired. There is nothing called ‘scratch’ in there. Every idea in interior design has a historical background. It is coming from somewhere,” says Mohamad.
“It is always about the history. Sometimes it is related to the early or middle Islamic history or classics from European or British history,” he adds.
If you look up history and see the old residences, palaces or royal residences, you would see that the royals were not interested in one pure style. For instance, if you go to France of the Renaissance era, they would use the classic furniture which was then up-to-date but mix it with elements from India, Egypt, the Roman empire or China.
Working on a space, he first works with the design of the item, piece by piece and then overall look of the ceiling, floor and walls. And then he goes for the fabric and the wallpapers where the elements can be mixed together.
“Since we started with BluRibbon in 2012, we have had the smallest to bigger projects. We have worked on multiple projects from decorating a single wall to the entire buildings and residences,” says the BlueRibbon Projects Manager.
“My personal favourite so far has been the Al Rayyan Radio Station at Souq Waqif that we did. It was totally conceptual. I took the elements of music instruments and all of that was reflected on the walls, the ceilings, the floor and the furniture,” he adds.
As it was a purely traditional Qatari architectural building and they needed a concept for the three connected corridors to have nice cozy finish, Mohamad says it came out perfectly well for him.
Sometimes, he says, he gets a project and there is this one piece that he wants to use, so the whole area will be conceptualised around it. It is the feature element and the focal point in the whole area.
In other cases, it is totally different. He would think about the ceilings, the walls and the floor and then the furniture. But most of the times, the furniture is the focal item because after all he is primarily the furniture designer.
“I like to focus my work on furniture and when we are talking about furniture. It is not about a chair or a table. No, it is about the material, fabric, the colour scheme, the wood, the finish itself and the function of it,” says the designer.
It has to be functional as well. “I always try my best to make an item for my client that he can save with him for years to come,” he claims.
Mohamad says you cannot create a concept for a space without thinking about the furniture and each item in it that you are going to use inside the space. You have to see the function and dimensions of the space and if you want to go for a maximisation or minimisation concept. “Each space has its own story and we (designers) try to make it elaborate and give it our own personal touch,” says Mohamad.
Whatever they teach you in the school is not applied in the real market, he observes. “Life is not about the book of design. They can teach you standards but nobody can teach you aesthetics of a space,” believes Mohamad, adding they have done designs for spaces that were totally unstudied.
This is where the role of the interior designer comes. He has to give solutions for such spaces and how to use every single centimetre of it, he adds. Most of the times, the local audiences, he says, are working with Arabic, Islamic or Oriental designs but there are people who appreciate the classic as well. It is a mix of classic and contemporary designs.
Their company, BluRibbon Design Atelier, is a wide multidisciplinary agency focusing an approach to interior design languages, strategies and research.
It combines years of experience with creative instinct to bring innovative interior design solutions; working with emphasis on originality, evolving through personality, reliability and strong customer understanding to deliver inspired interior design.
“Our presence in Qatar and our understanding of the local Gulf and Middle East market makes cross-cultural design another key expertise we focus on in our design practice,” says Mohamad.
In 2003, Mohamad started his own industrial workhouse in Beirut, Lebanon, providing design solutions, strategic conceptualising, and project management from inception to fruition for a multitude of projects.
His commissioned interior projects encompassed furniture and textiles, lighting, graphic interiors, and digital art. With his work, Mohamad received various awards such as finalist Lebanese Broadcasting Group (2006), finalist Lebanese Arts Foundation (2006) and finalist Best Interior Designer Qatar Expo INFDEX (2008).
FINDING SOLUTIONS: Bachir Mohamad says he is working on his next exhibition to be held in a few months. Photo by Umer Nangiana
