On August 4, 2020, Lebanese jewellery designer Selim Mouzannar was on a sailing boat in the Greek islands when he received a call from his wife. Their Beirut house had been badly damaged, with the doors and windows blown out, both their jewellery shops had been destroyed, and his daughter, Ranwa, had been badly injured as she was closing up one of the shops.
Fine jewellery is one of Lebanon’s biggest exports. Many workshops, jewellery boutiques and homes are located in the Beirut port district where, three years ago, 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded in a fire. At least 218 people lost their lives, and 77,000 structures were damaged.
The office had shattered over our heads
Nada Ghazal,
jewellery designer
Mouzannar’s was one among thousands of families and businesses affected. However, like many fellow Lebanese creatives, he refused to let it get in the way of life.
“My family wanted to leave afterwards, but I decided to keep working, keep creating and go forward. To create beauty is our main resistance to counteract violence,” says Mouzannar, whose signature collection Beirut Rosace is his tribute to the city.
The third generation of a family of jewellers originally from Damascus, he’s proud of being a Beiruti and talks often of the resilient Lebanese spirit.
Fellow jewellers, the Nawbar sisters Dima and Tania, who are behind L’Atelier Nawbar, were at their grandmother’s funeral on that fateful day in August 2020, having left Tania’s children with friends who lived near the port.
We couldn’t just get up and leave; this is our family legacy
Dima Nawbar,
jewellery designer, L'Atelier Nawbar
Tania recalls: “At 5.30pm, I just got this feeling that I had to pick up my kids and go home.” The sisters have houses that are a five-minute walk from the port. “I picked them up, we got home at six and the blast was at 6.04pm.” The sisters’ homes lay shattered around them, a friend was badly injured and, sadly, one of their company's jewellery artisans died in the aftermath.
L'Atelier Nawbar employs 150 people, many of whom were apprehensive about their future. “A lot of businesses left Beirut and our team was fearful we would pick up and leave for Dubai,” says Tania, who launched the business with her sister in 2011.
“But we couldn’t just get up and leave; this is our family legacy,” Dima says. They are the fourth generation in their family to work in the jewellery trade.
At present, they’re navigating the collapse of the economy with restricted access to credit and cash, and Tania admits: “We’ve been forced to become businesswomen and bankers.”
However, they’ve rebuilt their homes and expanded their collections. They are also showing at Harrods in London this month; opening a second flagship store in Riyadh next month; and hosting pop-ups at Bloomingdale’s in Dubai and Bahrain this autumn.
Their new collection, Fragments, was created in the aftermath of the blast as part of the healing process, and is inspired by the colourful shattered glass from the old buildings of Beirut reassembled in jagged shapes. Putting pieces back together – in life and in work – was “very therapeutic”, Dima says.
Jeweller Nada Ghazal was in her Beirut office at the time of the explosion, which all but destroyed her workshop as well as her new, yet-to-open flagship outlet. “The whole space turned grey after the first explosion and a few seconds later, the bigger blast hit us. Shards of glass, metal and wood and dust filled the air,” she says.
“I remember looking around not knowing what had happened. The office had shattered over our heads, the workshop equipment was lying broken everywhere. I can't forget our screams amid the alarm, searching for each other in the grey dust to make sure we were all OK.
“It left me and many others with a terrible guilt because we had survived,” says Ghazal, who lost a lifetime of work, but says that feels like nothing compared to others.
Miraculously her team escaped unharmed, and she slowly rebuilt her workshop. “After the blast and all the surreal events we have been going through, I thought I was losing my city, so I created a collection called My Muse to translate different aspects of what I loved most about Beirut, which I wanted to share with the rest of the world,” she says.
After two years, Ghazal decided to grow the business internationally by relocating to London where she’s putting her children through school. She also plans to open a boutique in the city, while still retaining her business and workshops in Beirut.
Her latest collection is called Doors of Opportunity that, she says, is “inspired by the symbolism of doors and the magic they hold for new beginnings”. An apt metaphor, then, for what happened in Lebanon and the precious Beiruti mindset of always looking to the future.
Buy farm-fresh food
The UAE is stepping up its game when it comes to platforms for local farms to show off and sell their produce.
In Dubai, visit Emirati Farmers Souq at The Pointe every Saturday from 8am to 2pm, which has produce from Al Ammar Farm, Omar Al Katri Farm, Hikarivege Vegetables, Rashed Farms and Al Khaleej Honey Trading, among others.
In Sharjah, the Aljada residential community will launch a new outdoor farmers’ market every Friday starting this weekend. Manbat will be held from 3pm to 8pm, and will host 30 farmers, local home-grown entrepreneurs and food stalls from the teams behind Badia Farms; Emirates Hydroponics Farms; Modern Organic Farm; Revolution Real; Astraea Farms; and Al Khaleej Food.
In Abu Dhabi, order farm produce from Food Crowd, an online grocery platform that supplies fresh and organic ingredients directly from farms such as Emirates Bio Farm, TFC, Armela Farms and mother company Al Dahra.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
Rating: 4/5
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Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20The%20digitisation%20of%20financial%20services%20will%20continue%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Managing%20and%20using%20data%20effectively%20will%20become%20a%20competitive%20advantage%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Digitisation%20will%20require%20continued%20adjustment%20of%20operating%20models%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Banks%20will%20expand%20their%20role%20in%20the%20customer%20life%20through%20ecosystems%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20The%20structure%20of%20the%20sector%20will%20change%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
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The specs
Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: nine-speed
Power: 542bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: Dh848,000
On sale: now
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The years Ramadan fell in May
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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The five pillars of Islam
RESULT
Huddersfield Town 2 Manchester United 1
Huddersfield: Mooy (28'), Depoitre (33')
Manchester United: Rashford (78')
Man of the Match: Aaron Mooy (Huddersfield Town)
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Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
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The specs: 2019 Mercedes-Benz C200 Coupe
Price, base: Dh201,153
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Power: 204hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 300Nm @ 1,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.7L / 100km
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
The biog
Marital status: Separated with two young daughters
Education: Master's degree from American Univeristy of Cairo
Favourite book: That Is How They Defeat Despair by Salwa Aladian
Favourite Motto: Their happiness is your happiness
Goal: For Nefsy to become his legacy long after he is gon
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KEY HIGHLIGHTS
Healthcare spending to double to $2.2 trillion rupees
Launched a 641billion-rupee federal health scheme
Allotted 200 billion rupees for the recapitalisation of state-run banks
Around 1.75 trillion rupees allotted for privatisation and stake sales in state-owned assets
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
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Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
CREW
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What is a black hole?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Zayed Sustainability Prize
RESULTS
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World Cup League Two
Results
Oman beat Nepal by 18 runs
Oman beat United States by six wickets
Nepal beat United States by 35 runs
Oman beat Nepal by eight wickets
Fixtures
Tuesday, Oman v United States
Wednesday, Nepal v United States
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NYBL PROFILE
Company name: Nybl
Date started: November 2018
Founder: Noor Alnahhas, Michael LeTan, Hafsa Yazdni, Sufyaan Abdul Haseeb, Waleed Rifaat, Mohammed Shono
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Software Technology / Artificial Intelligence
Initial investment: $500,000
Funding round: Series B (raising $5m)
Partners/Incubators: Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 4, Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 6, AI Venture Labs Cohort 1, Microsoft Scale-up
The specs
Engine 60kwh FWD
Battery Rimac 120kwh Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (LiNiMnCoO2) chemistry
Power 204hp Torque 360Nm
Price, base / as tested Dh174,500
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
