In January 2005, Beirut’s sun rose on the Paris Furniture Fair (Salon du Meuble de Paris), where, joining several other young talents from the prolific Lebanese design scene, Janine Akl presented her “Beach Set”. 

A “Beach Set”. Every summer, sun-drenched grains of sand on the beach set themselves a novel task: conducting a census of the entire Lebanese population – they try to cover everyone. The “beach set” is an indispensable landmark of the Lebanese summer.

If you’re going to spend some time there, you might as well feel at home. Thus, it’s in pondering how to hang one’s curtains on trees, install one’s room on the grass, plant one’s parasol in one’s very own living room, or put the couch on the sand that Janine Akl conceived her “Beach Set”.

A young designer with degrees from the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts) and the Saint Etienne National School of Engineers (Ecole Nationale des Ingénieurs de Saint Etienne), Janine Akl’s work reflects her passion for volumes, shapes, light and material, and her desire to endow her objects with sense. Her pieces range from wooden furniture to packaging to interior design.

It’s by observing – no doubt one of the designer’s major talents – and exploring the particular universe of the beach, its codes, rituals and customs that Janine Akl created her Set.

An ensemble consisting of a beach chair (adjustable, naturally), a floating parasol, and a spare kit for last-minute beachgoers, a well-known group in Lebanon, where the beach is only… Oh, are we there already?

Seeing the glowing and lively colors of these sets, the curves that mix sensuality with elegance, one remembers the hours of lazing about and last summer’s beach parties, and starts thinking of the upcoming ones. The music, the laughter, the sound of the crashing waves… Be patient, summer is just around the corner.