Majal’s senior exhibition, at the side of the school’s graduation ceremony on June 20, was received with significant praise and fanfares.
Seven jewelry students and four textile students displayed the collections they worked on for their senior projects, each according to a defined concept and a story line. “We train our students to think as they work, to conceive of an entire collection in order to eventually be able to create a brand,” Nour Tannir, Majal program director, explained.
Topics varied from anxiety and depression to childhood memories, the scars of a woman’s body and the lotus flower bud. A notable design, by Maya Ayyad, presented the barbed wire of Southern Lebanon in a beautiful, wearable format.
“We are so very proud of our students and their achievements,” Tannir said. “Students poured a piece of themselves into their work. They showed a mastery of handwork as well as design thinking.”
Majal Design School celebrated its first graduating class at Dar Al Nimr in Hamra, marking a milestone for the institution less than two years after the launch of its certificate programs.
Majal Design School offers Lebanon’s only comprehensive jewelry program at a design school, as well as the first textile design program in the history of the country. It also offers a business growth program to help students expand and scale their brands.
Alongside were also the results of two design competitions organized in partnership with Warde and L’Artisan du Liban. They included surface design projects executed during Majal classes based on briefs by the two famous Lebanese institutions.
Based on the competition premises, representatives from Warde and L’Artisan Du Liban chose multiple designs to be printed and sold at their showrooms. Winners shall get commissions on sales.
“Our approach is one of class-to-market,” Pamela Mikhael Daher, Majal business lab chairperson, said. “Through such competitions, students start working and making money even before they leave the classroom.”
-By Majal Design School