Bokja creations mix skills, colours and identities
This year’s Beirut design week honours a brand that has put Lebanon on the global fashion map: Bokja. Hoda Baroudi and Maria Hibri are the two female founders of this vibrant and eclectic design studio, and tell a story of creation, resilience and humanity anchored in the reality of modern Lebanon.
From re-upholstered sofas to flowy robes, the creations harbour an eclectic variety of fabrics, sourced all over West Asia.
Nested in the recently rebuilt Mar Elias district, the tiny Bokja showroom brings through its vintage materials the patina that the brand new neighbourhood still lacks. The “Haute Bohemian” upholstered furniture or garments are a patchwork of old and new fabrics, woven here or sourced along the ancient Silk Road. “As for our branded mixed patterns, we have assembled a team of creative people from all walks of life” Hoda cheers. Her smily eyes tell a proud story, one started in 2000 when she decided to brand her passion.
Hoda had always collected old textiles, “a hoarder hobby” in her words. Back to Lebanon after the war, her frequent travels to Iraq, Uzbekistan or just the local thrift shop honed her eye for antique suzaniyyeh trousseau pieces, weathered velvets or simple throws. Soon after, when she met with antique furniture maker Maria Hibri, vivid fabrics and heritage sofas were what created Bokja. “More than just a marriage of wood and upholstery, we wanted to give a new life to rare, sought-after fabrics that were often used as blankets”, explains Hoda. Now, Damascus brocades and Aleppo sarmas are pieced together over round, welcoming frames and create a unique brand that caught the attention of Hollywood.
A stone throw’s away from the glistening boutique, here is one of many war-torn mansions, decrepit but majestic. Squeezed between the collapsed floors, heavy machinery and variegated fabric rolls create the upholstery workshop. That is where we meet Maria Hibri, the other half of Bokja. “Old furniture is what brought me to Bokja”, she reveals. A collector of antiques, she browsed the flea markets looking for streamlined sofas or ornate ottomans, before restoring them as a hobby. Her day job was managing a fruitful florist chain. Old wood and fresh flowers: the essence of Bokja’s design was in her when she met Hoda, and along the years she grew fond of fabrics, to the point that the studio ventured recently into fashion. Amongst cushions and ottomans, the 2018 collection also accommodates robes, scarves and bomber jackets, always sewn with eccentric details.
Inside the production lab, Sadik and Kristi check the embroidered patterns of a decorated fabric
Set in an old Beiruti mansion, the workshop produces the furniture frames while embroiderers sew rich details onto the upholstery fabric.
As deserving as they are, Hoda and Maria also know to share merits. “We learned everything from Claudine Sahyoun, an embroiderer amongst many that used to work in Beirut before the war”. Soon after, more than 10 embroidering artisans joined the studio, salvaging a moribond profession in town.
Even further down into Beirut’s heart, Bokja’s production lab sits in a garage set in a placid 1960s building – a far less touristy sight of the city. But once inside, the same riotous mix of colours and vibrant patterns foment a bustling vibe. Here, 35 people hustle around, sewing and designing. Few of them are from Lebanon. “Our team, like our fabric, is a creative melting pot of international brand designers and displaced individuals”. Hoda enumerates: “Sadik is from Sudan, recently arrived in Beirut. Omar is an embroiderer from Iraq, while Kristi just graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts”. Immigration is a shushed topic in the tiny Levantine country, which might host more than a million refugees, IDPs and settled foreign populations. “No official count exists, but migration is really part of Beirut’s identity, and our creations want to reflect it.” That is why they ventured recently into art exhibitions, the first of which is aptly named “Migration collection”, where migrant’s suitcases meet travelling garments.
“We want to emulate all the cultures that co-exist in Beirut”, explains Maria. Passionate about fabrics, the two creators are also deeply rooted in the life of the city. After 18 years, the duo still tour the informal flea markets that pop up in some areas of the town, or browse the antique shops looking for some rare piece that would have survived the war. Resilience defines the women and the city, and if their production now makes it to biennales and celebrity interiors, Hoda concludes: “we are very proud that our creations bear the ‘Made in Lebanon’ label”•
Hoda Baroudi and Maria Hibri, the two founders of Bokja Design.
