Lebanese interior architect and product designer Richard Yasmine created an unusual set of shaped hand mirrors called “Ashkal”. These nostalgic objects are shown in the modernist light – they are simple, minimal and shapely.
“Ashkal” in Arabic means “shapes” or “forms”. Mirrors are mimicking Euclidean shapes – oval, circle, square, triangle, rectangle and a pentagon. They are cut out of slim sheets of polished stainless steel. Each handle seems like a continuation of the mirror itself, as it is made from the same material in the same thickness.
When mirrors are inserted into pedestals, made from brass, metal or marble, they appear to cut them into halves. The designer describes his work as “a surrealistic oversized fashionable cutlery set“.
“Ashkal” was commissioned by the Sursock Museum, located in the heart of Beirut in Lebanon. The 1912 building of the museum itself is spectacular, as it is combining Venetian and Ottoman styles. Museum was established in the sixties and since then is known as a contemporary art institution.
Richard Yasmine dedicated this set of hand mirrors to Sursock Museum, being inspired by stained glass windows on the museum’s facade and referencing the era when Sursock museum first opened its doors. Mirrors are sold exclusively at the museum’s store.
