Born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1978, Marc Baroud studied interior design and furniture design at the Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA) in Beirut, graduating with his Master’s degree in 2001. He went on to earn a product design degree (DSAA) from the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Appliqués et Métiers d’Art (ENSAAMA) in Paris in 2002. From 2002 to 2003, he worked as a designer at the Centdegrés agency in Paris.
In 2004, Baroud returned to Beirut and began designing and self-producing furniture and objects, broadly ranging from perfume bottles and lighting to jewelry and corporate identities. He also began teaching product design at ALBA. That same year, Baroud established MÛdesign Global, a brand development agency, which he ran until 2008. In 2008, he cofounded RGMB-ad (Rabih Geha Marc Baroud Architecture Design), a residential and commercial architecture and interior design firm in Beirut; he stayed with the company until 2014. In 2012, Baroud was appointed director of the design department at ALBA.
Since 2014, Baroud has focused primarily on education and product design. Standout projects include Tessera (2012), a handcrafted furniture series composed of leather, copper, and four-cubic-centimeter walnut blocks (designed for Carwan Gallery); the minimalist furniture collection Wires (2013), a collaboration with Marc Dibeh that explores the versatility of steel “threads” (for Art Factum Gallery); and Spoutnik (2013), a lighting collection inspired by moonlight (also for Art Factum Gallery).
Baroud’s work has been exhibited in Contemporary Perspectives in Middle Eastern Crafts (2012) and I:0 (2014), both at Beirut Art Center; All Down the Line (2012) and Spectrum (2013), both at Art Factum Gallery, Beirut; miart, Milan (2013); and Design Days Dubai (2013, 2014); among others.
The Exceptional
