Installation view of ‘Supernova’ on view at Carpenters Workshop Gallery New York. Courtesy Carpenters Workshop Gallery

In the space of seven years, David Raffoul and Nicolas Moussallem have evolved from fresh-faced newcomers into the brightest stars of the Lebanese design scene. The duo first met at Beirut’s Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts in 2007 and, finding an instant connection, travelled to Milan together after graduation to study industrial design, then set up their studio, David/Nicolas, in Beirut in 2011. Just three years later, the duo were collaborating with Agresti on a sculptural safe for Wallpaper* Handmade (W*185), exhibiting pieces with Milanese gallery Nilufar, and winning awards. Now, once again, they are on the brink of another defining shift in their careers, with their first solo exhibition in the US, following on from their European debut in 2018.

在7年的时间里，大卫·拉福尔和尼古拉斯·穆萨莱姆已经从新面孔的新人发展成为黎巴嫩设计界最耀眼的明星。这两人于2007年在贝鲁特艺术学院(Académie libanaise des Beaux-Arts)首次见面，并找到了瞬间的联系，毕业后一起前往米兰学习工业设计，然后于2011年在贝鲁特成立了自己的工作室大卫/尼古拉斯(David/Nicolas)。就在三年后，这对二人还在为墙纸*手工制作(W*185)的雕塑保险箱合作，在米兰尼卢法尔画廊展出作品，并赢得了奖项。如今，他们又一次处于职业生涯另一次重大转变的边缘，继2018年在欧洲首次亮相之后，他们在美国举办了第一次个展。

Called ‘Supernova’, the showcase was developed with Carpenters Workshop Gallery in Paris. The collection features a series of cabinets, rugs and tables – functional items, sure, but the ambitions behind them are cosmic. ‘The death of a star results in either a supernova or a black hole,’ says Moussallem. ‘The supernova is when a star explodes and all its debris is sent out into space, only to fuse again and create new stars. Here, death is just a transformation.’

展览名为“超新星”，由巴黎木匠工作室画廊开发。这些收藏品包括一系列橱柜、地毯和桌子-当然是功能性的物品，但它们背后的野心是宇宙的。穆萨莱姆说，恒星的死亡要么导致超新星，要么导致黑洞。“超新星是当一颗恒星爆炸，它的所有碎片被送入太空，只是为了重新融合和创造新的恒星。”在这里，死亡只是一个转变。

‘M030’ cabinet, in rosewood, fusion wow marble, glass, parchment and bronze. Photography: Alessandro Furchino Capria

‘M 030’橱柜，在玫瑰木，融合哇大理石，玻璃，羊皮纸和青铜。摄影：Alessandro Furchino Capria

The designers see this celestial cycle as a metaphor for Beirut, where they live and work. According to legend, the city has been built and destroyed seven times during its 5,000-year history. ‘We call it the phoenix city because it always rises from its ashes,’ says Moussallem. In spite of recent troubles, its people remain hopeful. ‘We imagine the future to be linked to the past,’ he says. ‘Everything we do is related to time.’

设计师们把这个天体周期看作是贝鲁特的隐喻，他们在那里生活和工作。根据传说，这座城市在其5，000年的历史中已经被建造和摧毁了七次.穆萨莱姆说，我们称它为凤凰城，是因为它总是从灰烬中升起。尽管最近发生了一些麻烦，但中国人民仍然抱有希望。他说，我们认为未来将与过去联系在一起。“我们做的每一件事都与时间有关。”

‘What makes us work well together is honesty, and a common dream.’

“让我们合作得很好的是诚实，还有一个共同的梦想。”

The designs for the show embody the ‘retrofuturistic’ concept that the pair have been developing since the early days of their practice. It is not, they point out, the same retro-futurism that fascinated illustrators and filmmakers in the 1950s and 1960s, but a more personal approach with recurring themes and tinges of nostalgia. The duo’s industrial design background is barely evident, but it nevertheless informs their work: ‘We have this industrial way of thinking, how to make from one thing a declination of many things, a system,’ says Moussallem. ‘It’s like music: you learn the basis and then you compose your own, which can become anything.’

该展览的设计体现了“复古未来主义”的概念，这对夫妇一直在发展从早期的实践。他们指出，20世纪50年代和60年代吸引插画家和电影制作人的不是同样的复古未来主义，而是一种更加个人化的、反复出现的主题和怀旧色彩。这两人的工业设计背景并不明显，但他们的工作却是这样的：穆萨莱姆说：“我们有这种工业思维方式，如何从一件事情上使许多东西的衰落，一个系统。”“这就像音乐：你学习基础，然后你自己作曲，它可以变成任何东西。”

‘C040’ coffee table, in travertino bronzo, with stainless steel inlays. Photography: Alessandro Furchino Capria

‘C 040’咖啡桌，在Travertino古铜色，与不锈钢镶嵌。摄影：Alessandro Furchino Capria

‘Supernova’ comprises two distinct collections. The Monocle series of cabinets, a spin-off from a piece the designers exhibited with Nilufar in 2016, riffs on the ‘equilibrium of masses’ and features a solid wooden base with a lighter, glass vitrine on top. The other series, Constellation, explores how a scientific phenomenon can be translated into objects.

“超新星”由两个截然不同的集合组成。Monocle系列橱柜是设计师们2016年与尼卢法尔(Nilufar)一起展出的一件作品的副产品，它破坏了“质量平衡”，并以坚实的木质底座为特色，顶部有一个更轻的玻璃镜。另一个系列，星座，探索如何将科学现象转化为对象。

The new pieces conceptually illustrate the transformation of the cosmos: an explosion is reproduced as geometric speckles of metal neatly applied onto a marble surface, a lunar eclipse mimicked by a table with overlapping tops in marble and glass. Raffoul and Moussallem’s work is usually linear and sleek, so working with volume is new territory. ‘[The pieces] look like spaceships or robots,’ says Moussallem. The space theme is also reflected in the choice of materials, which includes glass (derived from sand, a further nod to the supernova trajectory) and travertine, whose porous surface reminds the pair of the surface of the moon.

这些新作品在概念上说明了宇宙的转变：爆炸被复制成金属的几何斑点，整齐地涂在大理石表面上，月食由大理石和玻璃重叠的桌面模仿而成。拉福尔和穆萨莱姆的作品通常是线性和圆滑的，因此与体积一起工作是一个新的领域。穆萨莱姆说：“这些碎片看起来像宇宙飞船或机器人。”空间主题也反映在材料的选择上，其中包括玻璃(从沙子中衍生出来的，是对超新星轨迹的进一步点头)和钙华，后者的多孔表面提醒着月球表面的对。

‘Everything we do is related to time.’

“我们所做的一切都与时间有关。”

Recurring features include scalloped edges, on marble and wood, the juxtaposition of volumes and combinations of materials. Up to 15 artisans worked on each piece in the exhibition, which was developed across 21 workshops scattered around Treviso, northern Italy. Each element of the design was worked on by a specialist to achieve the best results. The hinges holding the glass part of the Monocle series’ ‘M030’ cabinet, for example, were made by a jewellery workshop. Production of the collections was overseen by Nilufar and managed by Raffoul and Moussallem’s long-term fabricator, Italian company Atelier F.

反复出现的特征包括扇形边缘，大理石和木材上，体积的并列和材料的组合。多达15名工匠在展览的每一件作品上工作，该展览横跨分布在意大利北部特雷维索的21个车间。设计的每一个要素都是由一位专家来完成的，以达到最好的效果。例如，装有Monocle系列“M 030”橱柜玻璃部分的铰链是由一个珠宝车间制造的。这些收藏品的制作由尼卢法尔公司监督，并由拉福尔公司和穆萨莱姆公司的长期制造者意大利公司Atelier F.

‘C070’ dining table, in travertino navona with silvered brass. Photography: Alessandro Furchino Capria

‘C 070’餐桌，在特拉维蒂诺纳沃纳与镀银黄铜。摄影：Alessandro Furchino Capria

While quick to acknowledge Atelier F’s support over the years, the designers add that clients have also been pivotal to their development. ‘Clients are the people who bring you somewhere. They are part of the evolution, they are our inspiration,’ says Raffoul, noting how more over-the-top requests pushed the pair to experiment early on in their careers, and their fabricator, in turn, to create more complex pieces. ‘We bounce ideas off each other, as though we’re playing a game of ping-pong. They have learned a lot with us and we have learned a lot from them,’ says Moussallem.

虽然迅速感谢Atelier F的支持，多年来，设计师补充说，客户也是关键的发展。客户是把你带到某个地方的人。他们是进化的一部分，他们是我们的灵感，“拉福尔说，他指出，越高的要求是如何促使这对夫妇在职业生涯早期进行实验的，而他们的制造者反过来又创造出了更复杂的部分。“我们互相交换意见，就像在玩乒乓球游戏一样。”穆萨莱姆说：“他们和我们一起学到了很多东西，我们也从他们身上学到了很多东西。”

The duo’s recent projects include a collaboration with Belgian fashion designer Carine Gilson on her Brussels boutique, and an interiors concept for Beirut restaurant Kaléo (W*219). A few years ago, they designed the Parisian apartment of Cherine Magrebi, founder of House of Today, an organisation that promotes Lebanese designers and their work. For both Raffoul and Moussallem, clients and collaborators become family the longer they work together.

Duo最近的项目包括与比利时时装设计师卡琳·吉森（CarineGilson）在布鲁塞尔精品酒店的合作，以及贝鲁特餐厅Kalinoo（W*219）的内部理念。几年前，他们设计了巴黎住宅的创始人谢林·马格比(CherineMagrebi)的巴黎公寓，该组织促进了黎巴嫩的设计师和他们的工作。对于Raffoul和Moussallem来说，客户和合作者在一起工作的时间越长。

It is a system they believe has made their studio stronger, and they would happily continue creating together for the rest of their lives. On their current trajectory, there’s no reason they won’t. ‘What make us work well together is honesty, and a common dream.’ §

他们相信一个系统使他们的工作室更强大，他们会愉快地继续在一起为他们的余生建立起来。在他们当前的轨迹上，没有理由他们不会赢。“让我们一起工作的是诚实和共同的梦想。”

As originally featured in the October 2018 issue of Wallpaper* (W*235)

如2018年10月号“壁纸”*(W*235)

在特雷维索附近的21家工作室中，设计师大卫·拉福尔和尼古拉斯·穆萨莱姆(NicolasMoussallem)拿着一张C 060侧桌的棕木腿，这是他们新的星座系列的一部分。摄影：Alessandro Furchino Capria在特雷维索附近的21个工作室之一，他们制作了最新的作品，设计师大卫·拉福尔和尼古拉斯·穆萨莱姆拿着C 060侧桌的棕榈木腿，这是他们新星座系列的一部分。摄影：Alessandro Furchino Capria

一个细节的Monocle系列‘M 030’橱柜，在玫瑰木与铰链喷砂青铜。摄影：Alessandro Furchino Capria-Monocle系列“M 030”橱柜的细节，用紫檀木制作，铰链为喷砂青铜。摄影：Alessandro Furchino Capria

在另一家当地的车间里，一大块的Travertino野马，即将被切成一张C 030的侧桌。摄影：Alessandro Furchino Capria在另一个当地的工作室，一个街区的Travertino支气管，即将被切割成一个‘C 030’侧桌。摄影：Alessandro Furchino Capria

星座系列包括铜和钢镶嵌复制穆萨莱姆的左前臂纹身。摄影：Alessandro Furchino Capria星座系列包括铜和钢镶嵌，复制穆萨莱姆左臂纹身。摄影：Alessandro Furchino Capria