Atelier l'inconnu:  Interview with Fadi Yachoui

A while back, I stumbled across one of Fadi Yachoui’s projects, PH-13 Apartment, on ArchDaily. As his work amazed me, I was curious to discover more about him and his designs. Turns out his path was impressive, with experience in Beirut and Europe, all around Milano, Paris, London and Barcelona. As we chatted along, a screen and 3400 km separating Beirut from Milano, I got to know how wise and sensitive Fadi’s perspective and approach were.

EM: I’m curious about the story behind the name Atelier l’inconnu. What is the reason for it?

FY: I think you should know a bit about my story before telling you why I chose Atelier l’inconnu as a name. I graduated from LAU with a degree in architecture and had the chance to do exchange programs and workshops abroad throughout my journey. I’m the kind of person who always wants to do new things and acknowledge different experiences. One day, I decided that I also wanted to learn Fashion Design in parallel with my architectural work. Sometimes you think that you like something when in fact it turns out that you don’t. I’m the type of person who believes that you should always do everything you can to discover, challenge yourself and evolve. Even if it turns out to be something you thought you liked but in fact you don’t, you always learn from it. So, I left Fashion Design because I figured that I liked the lifestyle of a fashion designer but fashion itself wasn’t really my thing.

After three years working with Bernard Khoury, I started handling the furniture of both his houses in Paris and Beirut. That’s when I realized that I also have an interest in smaller scale projects. So, I moved to Milano to do my masters in industrial design. I ranked first and won a competition for Lavazza, designing a coffee machine and had the chance to work with Piero Lissoni. After that, I was ready to launch my own brand and have my own platform. That’s when I chose the name l’inconnu. I always thought that I didn’t want to be recognized for my name and for the person I am more than for my work and the things I do. I didn’t want Atelier l’inconnu to be dedicated to a specific flow but rather to be a space where I could offer my services of architecture, interior and furniture design.

EM: I only found two projects of yours on the internet: the PH-13 Apartment featured on ArchDaily and the coffee machine. Do you have more projects or are these the only two till now?

FY: Architectural wise, the project that was featured on ArchDaily was my first project. I was happy about it because it’s one of the most visited platforms and it’s one which you cannot pay to advertise. I also have ongoing commercial projects at the time but I don’t like to publish renders or unfinished work, I like to upload pictures of my finished ones. Design wise, I have more than 20 products that no one has seen and they’re not on social media yet because I was always waiting for the right time to publish them. Now I’m starting to believe that maybe there will never be a right time.

EM: Most people that immigrate always say that they will come back to Beirut and help it in any way they can, but end up staying abroad after witnessing life elsewhere. Why did you come back when you’ve already been to that many countries and worked in Europe? Why didn’t you establish yourself there?

FY: I wanted to come back to Lebanon and promote my furniture here, working with local craftsmen, even though I had work offers abroad. I was more than satisfied with what I had accomplished and felt I was ready to start my career here. Unfortunately, the revolution stopped me from opening my own space in Beirut. A while after that came the lockdown and afterwards the explosion; I got severely injured and survived by miracle. I think I am still alive for a reason; I did not do yet what I had to accomplish in this world. That day was the turning point of everything for me. It wasn’t really about the whole explosion, but rather about the experience that came with it, seeing the people I love getting injured and my visions turn to dust.

We do know that we’ve always had this corruption in Beirut, that sort of chaos, and we’re used to it in a way that we almost see it like something positive- to always rebuild after every destruction. But the thing is, we are building on layers of corruption and maybe that’s the reason that got us here in the first place. This day made me question the quality of life we’re going to have to adapt to and live in. For me time is money, so if I’m going to wait for Beirut to come back to life, it’s going to be too late for me. I saw people losing everything they have invested years of their time, money and energy in, all disappearing in mere seconds. I don’t want to look into my life after 20 years and realize that I’ve barely moved. I felt the need to escape for a while and went back to Italy.

EM: How do you think the reconstruction of Beirut after the explosion should be?

FY: The explosion was a major force in my life that made me change my perspective in architecture and design. For me, we cannot generalize. On a personal level, I would keep most of the damaged things that are linked with the blast, not to make the scene ugly, but I do not want to keep on building on layers again. I do not want to erase what happened but at the same time if I want to build or restore, I want to do it in a sensitive way. If I’m going to build on these layers of destruction, I want to do it in a way that could make things better, not like we’ve been doing for the past ten or twenty years.

EM: I saw the memorial you did, CATHARSIS, related to the 4th of August explosion. Why did you feel the need to do a memorial, knowing that there would be critics about it at the time being?

FY: I felt the need to dedicate this memorial to my first client, who was one of my closest friends, and whom I lost in the explosion. We were together when the blast hit. I was lucky to survive but unfortunately, he was not. So, I woke up one day at 3am with this image in the back of my mind. I am not the kind of person that sees stuff in his sleep and retraces them, but I had the urge to recreate it in my sketchbook. My approach was very discrete, I didn’t want it to be imposing, neither to erase what happened; it was more of a patch on the hole created by the explosion. I wanted something more of a landscape, or public space where you can reflect and mourn the city and the people that we lost. My intention was to create emotions rather than monuments. This is a very sensitive issue which should be integrated in a very sensitive way. I wanted that place to be used for a good cause. The people who lost their lives are people who loved life and deserve to always be remembered. They gave a lot to Beirut and always had hope for this country. Unfortunately, Beirut did not love them as much as they loved this city. I really wanted to do this memorial as a dedication to the people I have lost and the ones that I didn’t know who have lost their souls. No matter what we do we’ll never do enough. It’s a tragedy.

EM: What message do you want your designs to deliver? Do you use architecture as a political weapon or are you more into its social aspect?

FY: On an architectural level or as a designer, you can transmit to people what you feel or think, you can show everyone your beliefs. I am not into politics, even my memorial was not a political act and I wanted each person to understand it in his own personal way. I wanted to focus on the victims on a more social level. I’ve never had the chance to do a public project but I’d really like to work on something that serves the people, like a park or opera house, etc. I think that you can interact the most with people through these social, public projects. Design wise, I also work a lot more on emotions and creating experiences. I like to translate the lifestyle of a client through my vision and creativity in order to give the user an experience. This is my main aim. Every project and every client is unique no matter what his budget is. My approach isn’t on a materialistic level but rather on the concept of the project and how it gives the client the lifestyle that suits and reflects him best.

As we thanked each other and said our goodbyes, Fadi granted me a very wise advice: Never be scared to get out of your comfort zone. Always challenge yourself to do the things you want to do because -I think everybody learned that from our current situation- you never know when you stop being able to do them. Go for whatever you feel like doing and always enjoy it. You sculpt yourself the way you believe you are.

This interview has been modified for editing purposes, the content and meaning of Fadi Yachoui were respected.