Middle Eastern graphic designer/artist RANA SALAM is just about as vibrant and colourful as the work she does. RANA has lent her Middle Eastern pop art style to clients in retail, fashion, design and press along with publishing her own book on Middle Eastern lingerie, launching her own product line and using her studio as a gallery space. We met in her studio to talk about her work.

WHERE WERE YOU BORN AND RAISED?

I was born and raised in Beirut until the age of 16. Then I came to London to start my design education 15 years ago. Applied to foundation course, built up a portfolio and applied to London College of printing, CSM and Royal College. When I came all the way to study in the UK I thought I would be a Western designer all cool and trendy and they actually said to me: “No, go back and discover the Middle East.” And I thought what is in the Middle East? There is nothing. No design really existed, there wasn’t a design movement like here in the West. So, when I went to do my thesis the only design I could use was what I found on the streets. I was fascinated by that.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE GRAPHIC DESIGN?

I thought it was something where I could be creative and make money. Combination of commercial and art. So that is why I call myself a graphic artist rather than a designer. I love things like labels, I already collected things when I was younger, I used to put it up on my wall. Like my wall of inspiration here in my studio…it all goes back to my childhood. Finding random things but not knowing what to do with them but eventually with graphic design I learnt how to manipulate things and how to use them.

IT IS LIKE POP ART…

Yeah, for sure, that is what I did for my thesis at the Royal College..the concept of Pop Art. The concept of Pop Art and the philosophy behind it, understanding all the pop artists, how they work. I started to apply that to my own work to justify it. It is not just grabbing a pretty image.

YOU WILL BE MOVING BACK TO BEIRUT IN A COUPLE OF MONTHS…HOW DO YOU THINK HAVING LIVED IN LONDON FOR SO LONG WILL INFLUENE YOUR WORK WHEN YOU MOVE BACK?

My work is going to get better. I need to discover new things, learn new things. There is a lot of homework to do and you can’t do it when you are here. What I have been doing for the last 15 years is collecting, collecting, collecting and I am going to continue to do that there.

HOW DO U KEEP YOUR MIDDLE EASTERN INSPIRATION FRESH AFTER HAVING BEEN IN LONDON FOR SO LONG?

My god, very good question. How do I keep it fresh? Well…a lot of my archives have actually been with me for 15 years….I’m stocking and stocking and stocking. And suddenly I can revive it through a project and it is about how I apply it 15 years later. The mood has changed, the graphics, the fashion has changed. When I design it today I hope it will still look cool in 20 years. I want it to be timeless. Like the cups for LA COMPTOIR will still be cool in 20 years but you do get graphics which you feel are part of trends.

COULD YOU DESCRIBE THE PROCESS OF WORKING ON A COMMISSIONED PROJECT. LET’S TAKE THE LIBANESE RESTAURANT LA COMPTOIR AS AN EXAMPLE…

For LA COMPTOIR we worked with an architect. The brief was obvious…it had to be a Lebanese style restaurant/cafe. We brainstormed with the architects how we were going to create visual imagery of Lebanese culture so that was the main thing….understanding what makes something look Lebanese. So, naturally we looked at the history and the architecture. Of course they came to me because I have a huge archive of Middle Eastern imagery. We went through my archives, selected images and cropped them. It was the art of cropping and editing images. It can just make it or break it…how you crop, where you crop it. The client, of course, was perfect for expressing all of this pop culture and it became really successful which none of us expected.

WHAT ABOUT THE ITSU CAMPAIGN?

They approached me having seen my image of a woman with butterflies. We made a collage out of that injecting some Itsu style butterflies to make the wallpaper that is part of the Itsu brand now.

So it does not look Middle Eastern necessarily, it is just my style. This is an interesting point…am I packed as a Middle Eastern popular artists/designer? Or am I packaged as a designer who can manipulate all different languages…Japanese, Middle Eastern…I trained as a designer but I am also an artist. I feel it is my duty to embrace the Middle East through design. It is kind of my mission.

HOW WERE YOUR DESIGNS FIRST RECEIVED IN THE MIDDLE EAST?

With a bit of a shock! The reaction to my Harvey Nichol’s window display, one of my first projects, was that I collect the rubbish off the street and put them in glamorous retail stores. But now it is very much celebrated. When I go to Beirut I’m like a little pop star but not here. Here when you walk down the street nobody knows you but in Beirut it is fantastic. After 20 years of doing thisit’s nice and rewarding! I’v done something worthwhile.

ARE YOU WORKING WITH ANY CLIENTS AT THE MOMENT?

No, but we are developing our own product line for our shop MISH MAOUL. We are trying to develop our own products with our own vision, carpets, cushions and jewellery. There will be an exhibition in my studio in two weeks time on the theme of love and in a couple of months there will be another exhibition on theme of belly dancers.

WHAT ARE YOUR PROJECT PLANS FOR THE FUTURE?

A book on Egyptian posters from the 40s, 50s and 60s. Other projects…I don’t know. I don’t look that far ahead.

Text GRASHINA GABELMANN

Photography NATHAN PASK