Arab Bank Switzerland Impact Award - Institut Du Monde Arabe
Community Wins!
Creative Space Beirut Wins Arab Bank Switzerland Impact Prize at the IMA Design Prize
This September, Creative Space Beirut was honored with the Arab Bank Switzerland Impact Prize under the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) Design Prize, at a ceremony on September 3, 2025, in Paris during Paris Design Week. The prize, now in its third edition, celebrates design from across the Arab world, spotlighting innovation, craftsmanship, and social impact.
A Prize Rooted in Exchange and Innovation
First launched in 2023 by design publisher Trame and consultant François Leblanc di Cicilia, in partnership with the IMA, the IMA Design Prize was created to highlight the extraordinary diversity and strength of Arab creativity. Described by its founders in three words - exchange, innovation, creation (NSS Magazine) - the prize has quickly become one of the most visible platforms for emerging and established designers from the MENA region.
Each year, prizes are awarded in four categories: Emerging Talent, Contemporary Craftsmanship, the Arab Bank Switzerland Impact Prize, and the Grand Prix. Winners are selected by an international jury, which in 2025 was chaired by acclaimed Lebanese-French architect Lina Ghotmeh and included Head of Editorial Content for Architectural Digest Middle East, Dubai-based Aidan Imanova, Qatari Director of Design Doha Fahad Al Obaidly, Kuwaiti Designer and founder of Inertia KW Loulwa Al Radwan, Palestinian architect, designer, researcher, educator and partner and design director at AAU Anastas Elias Anastas, Moroccan architect, structural engineer, educator, and activist Aziza Chaouni, Lebanese founder of Mariana Wehbe Public Relations Mariana Wehbe, and Saudi co-founder and CEO of ATHR Gallery Mohammed Hafiz (This Is Yung).
What makes the IMA Design Prize unique is its partnership with the Institut du Monde Arabe, a world-renowned cultural institution that serves as a bridge between France and the Arab world. As co-founder Ismail Tazi explained, “Here, design becomes a true vector of exchange, education, and transmission, beyond aesthetics. It carries strong social, economic, and environmental dimensions.” (NSS Magazine).
The Institut du Monde Arabe: An Architectural Landmark
The ceremony took place at the Institut du Monde Arabe, an architectural landmark on the banks of the Seine in Paris. Designed by Jean Nouvel and inaugurated in 1987, the building is famed for its south façade of mashrabiya-inspired apertures, mechanical diaphragms that regulate light while evoking traditional Arab latticework. This innovation earned it the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1989 and cemented its reputation as a cultural and architectural icon.
The IMA houses a museum, library, and event spaces, and plays a central role in fostering dialogue between Europe and the Arab world. For participating designers, having their work exhibited there during Paris Design Week means visibility to a global network of curators, collectors, and design insiders.
The Pink Oyster Dress
As part of the exhibition, Creative Space Beirut presented the Pink Oyster Dress from alumnus Amir Al Kasm’s 2025 collection, Mother of Pearl, Father of Dust. The gown is a voluminous, floor-length creation in structured rose-pink taffeta, featuring an exaggerated shoulder ruffle that flows into sculpted balloon sleeves. A fitted bodice, adorned with iridescent mother-of-pearl embellishment, anchors the design, while the gathered dome skirt cascades in architectural folds. A deep scooped back completes the dramatic silhouette.
Beyond its striking form, the piece is rooted in a narrative of memory and longing. The collection reflects Al Kasm’s return, after fourteen years, to the places in Syria that once raised him. Through inlaid mother-of-pearl, he glimpsed traces of life that endure even when so much has been lost. The collection, woven from this longing and infused with echoes of Nizar Qabbani’s poetry, is a tribute to vanished spaces, fragile beauty, and love that survives absence.
Displayed within the IMA’s galleries, the Pink Oyster Dress was both an object of couture and a vessel of memory, embodying the themes of fragility and resilience that run deep in CSB’s ethos.
Recognition for a Collective Effort
Winning the Arab Bank Switzerland Impact Prize is a milestone for CSB, but it belongs to its entire community. As co-founder Sarah Hermez explained, “This award is for our students, alumni, teachers, and community. It acknowledges the collective effort to build accessible systems of education and an inclusive, innovative field of design in the region, especially in the face of adversity.”
Hermez, along with board member Waleed Jarjouhi, represented CSB at the ceremony in Paris, where they stood alongside leading figures in Arab and international design. Hermez gave a short speech in which she reflected on the surreal experience of receiving such an award after five years of strife in Lebanon and during an ongoing genocide, referring to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The gathering highlighted the shared vision of building a more sustainable and inclusive design future for the region.
A Celebration of Arab Creativity
The 2025 IMA Design Prize recognized outstanding designers from across the region, each working at the intersection of tradition, innovation, and identity:
Emerging Talent Prize: Bahraini-Danish for Surface!, an architectural installation exploring materiality and cultural memory through reclaimed surfaces.
Contemporary Craftsmanship Prize: Studio Saffar for Dual Domes, a project merging traditional Gulf metalwork with modern design processes, creating objects that embody both heritage and experimentation.
Grand Prix: Ala Tannir for And from my heart I blow kisses to the sea and houses, a poetic design work blending personal narrative with spatial and material exploration, reflecting on memory and belonging.
Jury’s Prize: Elias Khuri, recognized for a project that reimagines architectural practice through a deeply contextual and place-based approach, rooted in Palestinian heritage.
Arab Bank Switzerland Impact Prize: Creative Space Beirut, for its free fashion design education program in Lebanon, fostering talent and creating inclusive systems of access in the design field.
Together, these laureates reflect the remarkable diversity of creative practices across the Arab world, blending tradition and identity with forward-looking design.
What This Means for CSB
For Creative Space Beirut, the Arab Bank Switzerland Impact Prize is validation of a model that places community, access, and creativity at the center of design education. With the prize comes both international visibility and a $10,000 grant, resources that will support the continuation of free education.
This recognition affirms that free, inclusive education can stand alongside the most innovative design practices in the Arab world. It is also a reminder that, even in times of adversity, creativity endures and communities thrive through collective effort.
