Karen Chekerdjian

Karen Chekerdjian is a Lebanese-Armenian designer and artist who was born in Beirut, Lebanon. After having started a career in the design and advertising sectors, from which she graduated in 1997. Her Mentor was Massimo Morozzi, founder of Archizoom Associati.

After several years spent in Italy, Chekerdjian came back to work in Lebanon in 2001. She has helped establish a local design scene and became a pioneer in the field throughout the region.

Karen Chekerdjian's work is both inspired by Levantine traditions and motivated by challenges posed by the lack of industry in the region. The limited tradition of product manufacturing in Lebanon made her focus shift towards new ways of creating. Chekerdjian explains that meaning is necessary in her work for it not to remain purely about functionality and aesthetics. Her objects are in a perpetual state of change and mutation.

She has taken part in several international exhibitions, amongst which Utopi (Copenhagen), Beyond the Myth (a pan-European show), Promosedia 2007 (Milan), Northern Lights (Tokyo) and ECHO (Beirut) and at galleries ranging from The Issey Miyake Foundation (Tokyo) and the Spazio Orlandi Gallery and the Nilufar Gallery (Milan) and the Sfeir-Semler Gallery (Beirut).

In 2013, Karen Chekerdjian had her first UK solo show, entitled "Designing the Middle East:Beirut", at 19 Greek Street in London.

In 2014, Karen Chekerdjian first exhibited Trans|Form, four collections of transformed and transforming objects, at the Beirut Art Center.

In 2015, her collection of limited edition objects Trans|Form and in Design Miami in December 2015

In parallel to the exhibition in the Institut du Monde Arabe, Chekerdjian exhibits her works at Dutko Gallery in Paris.

Solo exhibitions Designing the Middle East:Beirut (19 Greek Street in London) 2013 Utopi (Danish Museum of Decorative Arts, Copenhagen) 2002 Beyond The Myth (Pan-European Tour) 2003-2006 The Disappearance of Objects (ICFF, New York) 2006 Promosedia (Udine & Milan Spazio Orlandi) 2006- 2007 Confessions (House of Today, Beirut) 2012