We came across Bokja when we visited Spazio Rossana Orlandi in Milan recently. Lebanese designers Hoda Baroudi and Maria Hibri created the company in 2000 and have built up a cult following over the last ten years. Their vintage furniture is sourced from Beirut's flea markets and recovered in beautiful fabrics and tapestries sourced from the Silk Road countries of central Asia. The individual pieces combine a love of ancient culture and an explosion of modern pattern and colour.
Their most recent work 'Conversations', is an installation featuring two sofas, linked together to represent a collection of stories. Contemporary and vintage fabrics from around the world are collaged and patched together and tell the story of their origin. The idea is that the sofa is the focal point for conversations over time and the stories and narratives live on.
Bokja have recently opened their first store in Beirut, but if you are not likely to be visiting there in the near future, you can also see the range online and at Fumi and Liberty's in London, Merci in paris and ABC Home in New York and of course Spazio Rossana Orlandi in Milan.
