Story Of the Artist: Shaha Raphael And Her Wavy Table

by Alexandra Mansilla

Story Of the Artist: Shaha Raphael And Her Wavy Table

11 Jun 2024

Shaha Raphael is a Beirut-based architect we discovered while covering We Design Beirut. Shaha works with stone and silver. Carefully and thoughtfully, infusing her pieces with all her soul and energy.

For We Design Beirut, she created a table from monolithic blocks of local limestone, incorporating a nickel candle holder, an aluminum vide-poche, and a silver ashtray. Additionally, Shaha crafts jewelry inspired by shells. Let's delve into her journey, which is beautifully intertwined with stone and silver.

— How did your architectural journey begin?

— One summer, when I was still at school, my curiosity led me to follow architect Youssef Tohme for those three months of vacation. He took me to a lot of construction sites, and that is where I thought: that is what I want to do. It was fascinating to me.

— How did your exploration of stone start?

— In my second year of architecture at the AA (Architectural Association School of Architecture in London), I began exploring stone as a material because our given site was on bedrock in Oslo, and my instinct is always to look at what we are standing on in order to build up.

— Now, about one of your works, the table. Why did you decide to incorporate a nickel candle holder, an aluminium vide-poche, and a silver ashtray?

— The table is titled Carrier in the sense that its protrusions, gaps, and folds invite and provoke ritual. They are asking to be filled by other objects, sometimes temporary, sometimes permanent — and I like the idea of incorporating other creations of mine to nest into the table. For example, the candle holder has its place engraved on the table, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be there. You can choose to remove it and leave only its footprint.

Photo: Malek Hosny

— Different stones — different textures. Which one do you love working with the most? Why?

— One stone, many textures. I like to see how one material reacts differently to various tools.

— What materials are you interested in working with? Are you going to try something new?

— I am always looking to learn new ways of making. For me, it is techniques and tools that I am drawn to. I am definitely curious about a lot of materials, but I choose to experiment with techniques. For instance, casting is a technique I really enjoy delving into, and it is through casting that I began to explore different materials, from casting resins to plasters, concrete, and metals.

Instagram: @shaha.xyz

— You also create amazing jewelry pieces! How did you start with that?

— I took wood carving classes with an amazing Bahraini teacher called Wahab Taqi, learning to carve wood with knives. I made sculptures small enough to take home with me, and they ended up being wearable pieces. When I was satisfied with a piece, I would cast it in silver to replicate it. It is very satisfying to see the same piece in many materials. Each material brings out different qualities.

— And why silver?

— The sea is silver and olive trees are silver, it is a warm metal. It is exciting to cast silver — there is always an element of surprise once it solidifies.

— Am I right that you have (or had) a collection of shells and that your jewelry collection was born from it?

— I collect shells, rocks, bones from all over the world, every trip I make I bring back objects and I have chosen a few, edited and casted them in order to start this silver shells collection… It is expanding from jewelry to jewelry for the table and I will keep adding to it as my findings grow.

— Are you working on a new collection?

— I am working on a collection of bones, expanding the shells collection. I see them more as work in progress and a continuous project rather than collections with an ending to move on from.

by Alexandra Mansilla