We were recognised at the AD Design Awards, presented by Architectural Digest Middle East, one of the region's most respected platforms for architecture, interiors, and product design. The award came as we marked our 20th year as a studio, two decades of work rooted in Beirut and dedicated to bringing Arab craft traditions, particularly marquetry, mother-of-pearl inlay, and hand-carving, into contemporary design. It was a moment to reflect on what it means to build a studio practice around techniques that are ancient but far from finished.

Our work was included in Beirut: The Eras of Design, a major exhibition held at CID Grand-Hornu in Belgium, a leading European centre for design culture, tracing the history and distinct identity of Lebanese design from the mid-twentieth century to today. Among the pieces we contributed was the Now and Zen Bar, a furniture work that had been standing in our Beirut studio on the day of the August 2020 port explosion. The bar carried the physical marks of that day, making it not only a design object but a document of one of Lebanon's most devastating events.

We contributed a work to Take Me Away to Better Days, a charity design and art auction held at the Sursock Museum, one of Beirut's most important cultural institutions, itself still recovering from damage caused by the 2020 port explosion. The auction brought together unique works by 28 Lebanese and international artists and designers, with all proceeds going to the Gaia Fadoulian Association, a Lebanese organisation working to protect and care for animals in need. Our contribution was a handcrafted piece made specifically for the occasion.