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At a time when Middle Eastern economies are still reeling from the impact of the global financial crisis, and are grappling to regain lost ground, Lebanon’s interior design industry is experiencing unparalleled growth, with many designers claiming they have more work than they can handle.

Businesses, whether restaurants, hotels, banks or pharmacies, are increasingly catering for consumers with a finely honed sense of aesthetics. “It’s about the mentality of the Lebanese people,” explained Shady Bou Saba, whose company specialises in the burgeoning field of pharmacy design. “They all save money to buy a fancy car or clothes. The design of homes, hotels and restaurants follows that trend. You can see a Lebanese man, for example, wearing expensive clothes, living in an expensive house, but he’ll only have two dollars in his pocket.”

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FEATURED COMMENT I approve the extraordinary sense of international style that MR. Bou Saba showed us here in French Riviera.   2 Comments Read more comments »

Dany Ghanem of Dany Ghanem Interior Design has also seen an increase in commercial projects, especially restaurants, nightclubs and shopping malls. “We have a lot of investment going on in Beirut, and the market is getting bigger by the day. Sometimes we have to refuse projects because we’re overloaded,” he said.

To state that Lebanon boasts the most sophisticated interior design industry in the Middle East does not do the industry justice, claimed Bou Saba. “We are more advanced than America here. We are more like Italy. And the Lebanese people are becoming even more sophisticated; they need to see new things, new designs, all the time.”

Elie Traboulsi, general manager of home furniture at Lebanon headquartered Obegi Better Home, agreed. “We’re much closer to Europe than to the Middle East. For other countries in the region, we’ve always been a window to what’s happening in Europe. Instead of going to Italy, France or Germany, people from the region come to Lebanon to see what the latest trends are.”

With a keen eye for style and a natural love of aesthetics, many Lebanese are prepared to pay for high-quality materials and services. “Our fees are very expensive,” said Ghassan Kabbara, managing director of Harmouch Design, a company with more than 50 years’ experience in Lebanon, which counts the Al Bustan Hotel, Hilton Hotel and Bank Audi amongst its many high-profile clients. “Companies come to us because they know the quality of our work. They pay money for our experience and ideas, and because they know we have a good reputation,” he said.

As demand for good interior design increases, so does the market’s need for professional contractors to carry out the work. “It’s difficult to find good people to execute the projects,” noted Kabbara. “Professionals who know new materials from around the world, who know about the different kinds of wood, who have experience – those people are rare.”

Qualified contractors are often overworked, and cannot take on many projects at the same time, thus decreasing the amount of work that can be done.

Although Lebanon was relatively untouched by the global financial crisis, its volatile political situation has given many international investors cause for concern. This uncertainty makes it difficult to formulate long-term plans, said Traboulsi. “Politicians come and tell us that we’re going to have a good summer, or a prosperous year ahead, but this is not what we want. We want to plan for the coming years; we want to know that the next five, 10, 15 or 20 years are going to be stable.”

Obegi Better Home’s Jal El Dib showroom features high-end designer brands from Italy, and deals extensively with interior designers. And although Lebanese clients appreciate and are prepared to pay for high-quality designer furniture, Traboulsi believes that the 30% customs tax imposed by the government prices many more potential clients out of the market.

“Taking the tax and cost of transportation into account, our prices here are 30% to 40% more than in Europe. This is our main challenge, to explain to our customers why our prices are they way they are,” he said.

“We try to compensate with the service and the choice,” he continued. “If people see something on the internet, they can only look at the picture, but we carry the stock. They can come and have a look, they can try it and touch it. It is very important to us that we can provide this service.”

Lebanese clients demand a more hands-on role in the design and execution of their projects than their GCC counterparts, Traboulsi suggested. “In the Gulf, clients come to you, they give you the plan and let you do the whole job from A to Z. In Lebanon, clients know exactly what they want. They are grateful for the help, but they like to have their own touch.”