Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Age: 33 (Tara) and 31 (Tessa).
Occupation: Architects and designers.
Instagram: @tsakhistudio
Hometown: Beirut.
Studio location: Venice, Italy.
Describe what you make: We focus on designing social and sensorial interactions through architecture, urban installations, and collectible design. In every project, we experiment with diverse materials with recycled waste. For instance, our Jurat sculptural vessel collection explores Murano glass infused with metal waste, a material research project we’ve been developing for the past three years. On the other hand, our Reconciled Fragments coffee table collection uses resin with off-cuts and aggregates of recuperated stone with powder metal waste.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: Working on our public installation Letters from Beirut moved us profoundly. The installation consisted of a 20-foot-long wall of thoughts collected from 2,000 Lebanese citizens and expats continuing the dialogue on the preservation of Lebanon’s collective memory and cultural heritage post the August 4 explosion.
The wall acted as a surface for connections by engaging pedestrians visiting the Venice Architecture Biennale 2021 to pick one pouch; inside they discover both a personal message to whom they’re encouraged to answer back to by email, as well as a seed—a universal symbol of rebirth—to plant, leaving a message of growth and hope.
Describe the problem your work solves: Nowadays, our fast-paced world leads us to a disconnected life even though we’re constantly in connectivity through social media. We like to think our work triggers a sense of connection and compassion.
Describe the project you’re working on now: We just curated and designed our first solo exhibition, “I Hear you Tremble,” in Venice during the Italian and Venice Glass Weeks in partnership with Le LAB gallery, where we premiered our new sculpture collection Jurat inspired by archeological and cinerary urns from ancient Egypt using the noble Murano glass infused with the disregarded metal wastes from surrounding metal factories on the island. The collection encapsulates an iteration of 21 sculptures that underwent diverse intentional deformations by poking, compressing, or stretching them while observing how our controlled technique paired with the uncontrolled nature of the glass-metal material manifests in a diversity of results.
With this collection, we were playful in creating an illusion of time yet alluding to a contemporary object by using an experimental glass-metal amalgam. This project is the result of a material research workshop we initiated in 2017 with Murano glassblowers that helped us acquire a technique by infusing metal waste (under powder and molten state) within Murano glass at different stages of the process and at different temperature calibers, resulting in indissociable rock formation–like textures.
In search of new textures, we also experimented with local Beirut craftsmen in a series of coffee tables by recuperating stone aggregates and metal powder waste from local factories.
Our collection Reconciled Fragments focuses on collecting and recycling decomposed and fragmented materials to recompose them into one solid whole. This concept is interpreted with gathered off-cuts of marble and stone (Amazonite, Onyx, Travertine, Forest Green Marble, Rosso Damascus, and Fossil Brown), as well as aggregates of metal powder (brass, copper, and aluminum) from the surrounding local factories in Beirut. Each table is a unique piece and entirely hand-crafted by the craftsmen and ourselves.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: We are currently working on a public realm project at Alserkal Avenue in Dubai, where we’re designing interactive public interventions to animate the entire public spaces of the venue. It’ll be completed in April.
We’re in the process of finalizing our fifth short film related to our inspirations behind the creation of Reconciled Fragments. We’re also working on a restoration residential project in Venice that’ll be completed next summer and exhibiting our Jurat vessels in Salon Art + Design in New York with Le LAB.
What you absolutely must have in your studio: My books, music in the background, herbal incense, and a candle lit (Tara). Inspiration books, Miles Davis tracks, and my dog (Tessa).
What you do when you’re not working: I prioritize exploring different parts of the world, mostly wild landscapes and little towns with my dog Zoe and my Rolleiflex in hand (Tara). Hiking forests and taking pictures (Tessa).
Sources of creative envy: I wouldn’t know who and what to pick! It really depends on the phase I’m going through, but as I’m writing this now, I’d say Virginia Woolf after finishing her experimental masterpiece The Waves (Tara). Kahlil Gibran, Fairuz (Tessa).
The distraction you want to eliminate: The phone and social media (Tara). Ads and news bombardment (Tessa).
Concrete or marble? Marble.
High-rise or townhouse? Townhouse.
Remember or forget? Remember (Tara). Forget (Tessa).
Aliens or ghosts? Ghosts.
Dark or light? Light in the dark (Tara). Light (Tessa).
