When geometry meets poetry.
Nathalie Gharbi is a Lebanese designer and founder of Nathalie Gharbi Design — a studio dedicated to collectible functional art.
Her work stands at the intersection of sculpture and architecture, where geometry meets poetry. She creates strictly limited editions that transcend utility and assert themselves as spatial presences. Conceived by Nathalie and realized in close collaboration with her atelier, each piece explores transformation, resilience, and structural clarity through noble materials — cast aluminum, brass, resin, painted glass, and onyx marble.
Her debut collection, Clé d'Or, was presented at Beirut Design Fair, Arena Seaside in September 2019 — the fair's final edition — marking her entry into the international design scene. Her second body of work, the Molten collection, is presented in 2026 at Le Yacht Club — Beirut, Zaitunay Bay, deepening her research through fire, material memory, and permanence.
Her practice situates contemporary design within a refined sculptural discourse, positioning functional objects as collectible works of art.
Matter in Transformation
Nathalie Gharbi’s work explores the moment when matter ceases to be still — when solid material appears to melt, flow, collapse or transform under the forces of heat, pressure and time.
Each work begins with a precise intention, yet leaves an essential place for unpredictability, gesture and the material’s own expression. Irregularities, distortions and fluid surfaces are not treated as imperfections; they become traces of transformation and an integral part of each work’s identity.
At the heart of her practice lies a fascination with the tension between strength and fragility, control and surrender, permanence and movement. Forms may appear soft, liquid or unstable, while possessing the strength and permanence to endure. The object seems suspended at the moment when matter is still becoming form.
Cast metal plays a central role in this language. Its surfaces retain the memory of their making — heat, pressure, movement and human intervention. Rather than concealing these traces, Nathalie Gharbi allows them to remain visible, giving the material its emotional and sculptural presence.
Her work exists at the intersection of sculpture, collectible design and material experimentation. Function is never considered independently from emotion: a console, table, bar or light is conceived not simply as an object to be used, but as a presence within space.
Light and architecture further activate the work, revealing textures, reflections, shadows and changing surfaces. Material is therefore never static; its perception evolves according to its surroundings and the person encountering it.
Across her practice, Nathalie Gharbi explores what remains after transformation: traces, tensions and memories embedded within matter. Each work becomes a record of a process — an encounter between intention and unpredictability, refinement and rawness, permanence and change.
Matter becomes memory. Form becomes presence. Function becomes sculpture.
“In this work, I do not celebrate perfection. I honor survival.”