FactualFor twenty years, despite the carelessness of the State, designers, architects and couturiers have built in the capital of Lebanon a scene recognized throughout the world. Installed in the neighborhoods near the port, they lost everything in the explosion of August 4.
Rabih Kayrouz’s voice is calm but fatigue and anger emerge. “Why, after all that has happened, aren’t there 4.5 million Lebanese in the streets? No we are not phoenixes, I hate that word. Today, there is a criminal walking in front of me and I do not know who he is, it does not help to find peace. I don’t want to turn my back and be strong and say I forgive. I forgive who? I want those who have hurt us to be judged because that is the only way to be fair. “
The Beirut creator, back in France to undergo medical follow-up – he was injured in the head during the explosion on August 4 – receives us in his Parisian apartment, a month and a half after the tragedy. It is the first time that he has spoken at such length to address his trauma: “They tell me it feels good to talk about it. It’s still very difficult… ”
Saved by state neglect
His phone was turned off for a month. His fashion house, located in the Gemmayzé district, overlooks the port, in the second line. It houses workshops, a showroom and offices, Rabih Kayrouz receives his clients there. At 6 pm, on August 4, he preferred to serve tea in the kitchen rather than on the veranda, as he is used to … This gesture, which he does not explain (“Call it God or whatever you want”), saved him: the veranda was blown up. The production tools – everything is done internally at Rabih Kayrouz – were destroyed, only three machines out of seven could be recovered. Some wearing dresses were found intact, as if by magic, in the middle of the pulverized furniture. “This is what my friend Lamia Ziadé calls the” object spell “”, he says with emotion.
Even “happy” twist of fate on the side of designer Karen Chekerdjian. When she arrives in her studio on the morning of August 4, the sun is shining over Beirut. So much so that over the hours the heat becomes unbearable. But the places no longer have air conditioning: “I haven’t counted on the electricity grid for a long time, which is far too erratic. I bought myself a generator to produce the energy needed for my studio. But, at the start of summer, it broke down. We had a lot to do: repairing a lamp, a new furniture project, fitting out an apartment … At the time of the lunch break, it was starting to get too hot and I suggested to the members of my team to go home. “ All left the studio in the Karantina district before the explosion, paradoxically saved by the carelessness of the state.
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