Coming from a family of compulsive paper hoarders, meant I was lucky to look through boxes of letters with all sorts of beautiful logos, font and symbols, to find inspiration for Darya’s own identity.

From Alexandria, to New York, the fragile, dusty and slightly yellowed papers were a real feast for the eyes.

So much attention was put into letterheads, it makes me wonder why our emails can’t be more decorative. Why are they so bland?  Sure you can attach your logo as a signature but it really isn’t quite the same. That said it can only be a matter of time before this changes.

Until then, here are a few favorites, from my family’s wonderful archives.

The architect Adib Dada

Born and raised in Beirut, Adib Dada earned his architecture degree at the American University of Beirut and a Master’s Degree in the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU in 2011. He’s currently pursuing a BSpecialist certification from the Bio-mimicry Institute in Arizona. His interests lie in the dialogue between architecture, living systems, technology and art, which he aims to pursue through his firm TheOtherDada.

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Google maps and navigation Apps might be all the rage, but when Darya Press stumbled on a collection of vintage maps of Lebanon and Syria published by all sorts of organizations, from the French Mandate forces to Pan Am, we couldn’t resist posting them.

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Is There Still Such a Thing as Levantine Charm?

 What we destroy often says more about our society than what we create.

Former lighthouse and Ottoman mansion in Ras Beirut

This comment, taken from an article about the American photographer Richard Nickel, who specialized in images of buildings about to be destroyed,  could be applied to Lebanon today.

If you visit the city these days, you will notice that real estate developers are clearing out what wasn’t destroyed during the long war, and the ensuing reconstruction: 19th century traditional houses are disappearing by the dozen, so are French Mandate period apartment blocs, and even some of the modernist gems of the 40s, 50s and 60s.  This has left Beirutis in one of two camps: the nostalgics versus the pragmatics.

Will Beirut follow the path of other cities that prefer, in the name of modernity to rid themselves of the past?

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