Karen Chekerdjian Biography

Karen Chekerdjian's trajectory into the world of design was driven by eclectic interests, resulting in an unconventional combination of practical and diverse experience in various creative fields. In addition to affecting her personal history and personality, growing up during the Lebanese Civil War also impacted her design philosophy and continuous pursuit of meaning.

Karen began by studying cinema and then moved into the world of advertising, establishing one of the first branding agencies in Lebanon. From 1991 to 1996, Karen directed and produced short films and adverts for various clients in Beirut. In 1997, she decided to change her career and went to Milan to pursue a Master's degree in Industrial Design at Domus Academy.

During this period of transformation, Karen met and collaborated with her mentor Massimo Morozzi, a founding members of Archizoom and Art Director at Edra. During their time together, Karen produced her first piece, Mobil, which was fabricated and distributed by Edra (1999), marking the beginning of her new career.

I am more interested in researching new languages than in making consumer products, I experiment with the limits and the meaning of furniture as object, questioning the assumptions of the reigning furniture industry.

In 2001, Chekerdjian returned to Beirut. That same year, she founded a design studio in order to continue actively rethinking and redefining her métier and methods. At the time, design as a practice was virtually non-existent in Lebanon and the region at large. Instead of submitting to the challenges due to the lack of industry, Karen harnessed an already existing history and began to employ a local knowledge. Interested in tradition and culturally specific artisanal skills, she began working with local artisans, transforming the process of handcraft into distinct product design.

Since then, the studio has developed into an eponymous brand that produces SERIES furniture and accessories collection, limited edition furniture, custom-made unique works and practices spacial design. The first showroom opened in 2010 in the Beirut Port district. The showroom/work space relocated to the Port's industrial zone in 2016.

With every new project and exhibition, I better understands my design direction as I am able to dissect my work, rewrite my methodology and renegotiate my relationship to objects and design over and over again. I don't believe that I have to choose and stick to one single direction. I fluctuate from art to design to interior work without question.

Between 2008 and 2016, Karen exhibited in many galleries and museums; to name some of them: in Beirut, Echo in 2008 at Sfeir-Semler Gallery and Trans|Form at Beirut Art Center in 2014, followed by international exhibitions; Design Miami in Basel and Miami with Carwan Gallery. In 2016, Respiration, a retrospective of her work, opened at L'Institut du Monde Arabe and Galerie Dutko in Paris.Karen's work, considered works of art, objects and/or architectures, has been in many international exhibitions and galleries over the past twenty years: DesignMiami (Miami, 2015) DesignMiami / Basel (Basel, 2015) Compositions | organised by Balice Hertling (Beirut, 2015) Trans|form | Beirut Art Centre (Beirut, 2015) Confessions organised by House of Today (Beirut, 2012) The Future of Tradition | Haus der Kundst (Munich, 2010–11) Echo | Sfeir-Semler Galerie (Beirut, 2008) Disappearance of Objects | International Contemporary Furniture Fair (New York, 2006) Promosedia (Milan, 2006) Northern Lights | Issey Miyake Foundation (Tokyo, 2004) Beyond the Myth | Traveling Exhibition—Europe (2003–4) Utopi | Danish Museum of Art and Design (Copenhagen, 2002–10), Spin Off (Cologne, 2000) Cologne International Furniture Fair (Cologne, 2000, 2001) Salone del Mobile (Milan, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2009)