By: Jana Al Obeidyine, a dancer, writer and independent publisher based in Beirut- Lebanon.
HYALĪ Pendants
HYALĪ is Latin for glass, it is an intriguing fact I discovered when I saw the HYALI pendants collection. My first reaction to the pendants’ brand name was a physical response. I instantly heard Feirouz’s voice in my head chanting “Hya Li,” meaning: She is mine; Beirut is mine.
Made with glass shards from the Beirut explosion, HYALĪ pendants were created to raise funds to support the victims and the reconstruction efforts. Valerie Nseir and Rani Al Rajji are the couple behind the initiative. Valerie Nseir is a partner and creative director at Match Design House, a multidisciplinary design studio. Her partner Rani Al Rajji is an architect, an urban storyteller, and the co-founder of Brazzaville bar and Studio Beirut.
“We were already preparing to run a soup kitchen at Brazzaville when the double explosion hit Beirut. Funds were already pouring into the project via our network in Lebanon and Europe. Following the explosion, people’s needs surpassed the need for food. So we thought of creating an item that makes the fundraising initiative more sustainable in the long run and can be offered as a ‘Thank You’ gesture to our generous supporters. That is how the HYALÎ collection idea was born,” Nseir recounts.
The design and execution of the collection were made in collaboration with glass artist, Lama Chawki, at her workshop in Akkar, North Lebanon. Chawki has been turning glass waste into jewelry pieces and other decorative items since 2017.
Transparent with occasional traces of yellow, the pendants’ subtle design matches its name potency. Although the rocky shape of glass hints timidly to Stone Age artifacts, yet the pendant’s elegant vertical posture recalls the image of a dancing coryphée.
“We deliberately chose to design the pendants around unmodified glass shards. This design choice raised some controversy here in Beirut. Perhaps because people weren’t yet ready to see an item that commemorates the port explosion,” Nseir says.
Rough and refined, the HYALĪ pendants are a manifestation of Beirut’s contradictions, elderliness, and grace.
Glassblowing and an ancient Art & a Craft
While naturally occurring glass has been used since the Stone Age, historical evidence shows that glass was also made and used in Samaria and Egypt around 4000 BC. Phoenicians invented the Glassblowing technique around 50 BC on the Mediterranean coasts, known today as Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Cyprus.
In the beginning, glass was used to make non-transparent ornaments, like bracelets and necklaces. The glassblowing technique forged the way to the craft of household goods such as glasses, vases, carafes, etc.
It is thought that the glassmaking processes were supposed to remain secret, and death was the penalty for revealing the technique.
In today’s Lebanon, glassblowing is still carried on as a tradition, passed from generation to generation, which makes it primarily a family business. Unfortunately, big industrialized factories are pushing the craft into extinction. Only two glassblowing factories remain in business today. One is situated in the village of Sarafand, South Lebanon run by the Khalifeh family. The other one is located in the Baddawi region in Tripoli, North Lebanon, and is run by Abdel Hamid Kobeitry. Kobeitry learned the craft from his grandfather but sadly, does not wish to pass it to his children due to the competitiveness of the marketplace.
Ziad Abi Chacker’s Jars & Jugs
The glass shards that made HYALĪ were initially collected through another initiative led by Ziad Abi Chacker in collaboration with several civil-society organizations and volunteer citizens. The initiative aimed to collect and recycle as much as possible of the glass debris that resulted from the port explosion, and to provide jobs for the two struggling glass factories.
The obstacle that prevented the recycling of the majority of glass debris was that the glass that scattered on the streets was too contaminated to be recycled and reused. Glass that broke inside the homes was collected door-to-door by volunteers and transported to the two glass factories in Sarafand and Beddawi by two trucks hired by Abi Chacker. The shattered glass was melted and turned into water jars and jugs sold at local farmers’ markets
Ziad Abi Chaker is an industrial engineer and founder of Cedar Environmental LLC who specializes in building Municipal Recycling Facilities on the communal level going against the trend of a central Mega recycling Plant. Cedar Environmental LLC is an environmental and industrial engineering firm that aims to build recycling plants to produce organically certified fertilizers and leave no waste material to be disposed of, but instead be recycled into new products to be used again. Zero Waste in Lebanon is Abi Chacker’s ultimate objective.
The myth of the rising phoenix is perhaps the most meaningful myth to the Lebanese. They hang on to the story of the fabulous bird that lives for 500 years before building a nest of aromatic plants and ignites itself to death. Shortly after, the phoenix rises again from its ashes to begin a new life cycle.
As an analogy, the phoenix story sounds like a concise summary of Lebanese history. Throughout its history, this piece of land has burned to the ground numerous times, and like the phoenix, it always comes back to life sturdier and brighter.
Both projects send a forthright message: Darkness, death, and destruction will not defeat us. Like the phoenix, we will rise swiftly from the ashes, more determined to recreate our lives, rebuild our cities, and produce beauty where none is left.
Photos taken by Valerie Nseir; copyright HYALĪ