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Khaled El Mays is a Lebanese designer who combines traditional craftsmanship with design consciousness in an innovative, contemporary framework. His design journey began when he graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the American University of Beirut. After completing his master’s degree in Digital Art at Pratt Institute in New York, he founded Atelier Khaled El Mays, a multidisciplinary design studio focusing on furniture design, interior design and graphic design.
Inspired by a variety of influences, El Mays’ furniture designs are based on process-based sequences and always achieve a balanced composition. Khaled El Mays’ design practice is based on a strong sense of community and he creates his works in collaboration with artisans. He prefers to use natural materials such as stone, leather and yarn in all his works, so all his designs are organically produced. He has always followed a non-linear process in his designs, and has always waited for the materials to appear in the process, not before the design.
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El Mays argues that natural material is everything for design and that without understanding and feeling the material, a simplistic approach to its use will result in weak designs. El Mays has always been excited by new materials and the way they are used and processed, but at the same time he has always worked with natural materials, knowing that he needs time to assimilate, understand and experience new and natural materials before he starts designing with them.
El Mays’ different perspective on design is informed by being raised by an artist. He was influenced by the fact that his mother painted all her life and was a color genius. All this passion for design has led them to bring furniture design to the forefront of their studio. He based his passion on the combination of various influences.
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While he enjoys the design process more than the end result, once he has achieved the final result, he usually prefers to continue with a new project in mind and in his studio. El Mays cares very much about his designs being works of human craftsmanship, and when thinking about the production phase, he thinks that the combination of high technology and skillful hands will not only work wonders, but also enable more people to work.
In his Lebanon collection in 2022, Khaled integrates travertine, marble and granite in an extraordinary way, which in addition to being very natural, sustainable and robust, give his designs an aesthetic and strong form effect. El Mays has perfectly demonstrated his imagination by integrating natural stone into his unorthodox designs. This collection, in which natural stone plays a leading role, includes tables and benches in different sizes and functions.
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