Brilliant Beirut, Article by Jonathan Ford, co-founder of PearlFisher, a design company.

Here are few excerpts:

In my third piece about the foreign creative influences that all designers should be aware of when looking for a fresh perspective, I’m going to talk about THE place that has left THE biggest impression on me recently: Beirut, Lebanon – a city with more texture than diamond-studded sandpaper.

Brands – some local – are emerging everywhere and there’s a healthy smattering of the home-grown reinterpretations of Lebanese cuisine, like Al Mandaloun, Cafe Blanc, La Plage and the very impressive Al Falamanki.

Art and design is literally everywhere. Old meeting new, East meeting West, all fusing together to create a mezze of image, culture and style that is on a fast track to make a global impression.