The Woman's Voice Seminar Discusses: The Furniture of Tomorrow

It was most enjoyable, The Woman's Voice seminar on 'the furniture of tomorrow.' It brought together specialists and enthusiasts of the art of home decoration. Mrs. Alma Kabir and Mr. Camille Munsif were the highest authority on the subject of house furniture and furnishings, and the Misses Layla Labaidi and Nihad Bishawqi and I were the eager ones, keen to learn of everything new and useful in this art that embraces us at home, at the office, and in public places. And the mainspring of the whole affair was, of course, the editor-in-chief, Mrs. Shayboub!

No sooner had we gathered and taken our seats than a volley of questions poured down upon both Camille Munsif — trained in Paris in this branch of the arts, and known among us for having decorated many of our houses and hotels — and Alma Kabir, that lady who stands behind the industrial renaissance in Jdeidet Marjayoun...

The first question, and rightly so, went to Layla, who will shortly be mistress of a house and wants its modern dress to suit her life and her personality. She wished to grasp the chief characteristics of modern furniture, so as to follow them in furnishing the home of her future... Kabir expounded at length on the rise, or birth, of the modern style, saying it was the product of an industrial life from which servants and retinue have withdrawn. Modern furniture demands no great effort in its use and upkeep; it is simple, highly useful, with harmonious, beautiful lines suited to the lines of the human body in its various restful positions.

We were following her talk with keen attention when she concluded by saying that the birthplace of modern furniture is the northern European countries — the lands of Sweden and Norway. She explained the event's occurring in those lands by their people's love of using the raw materials found there in abundance — such as wood — in their most beautiful forms. Thus they devised those simple, beautiful, restful lines... We did not all accept this theory, and I could not help setting before her my own conviction, founded on study: that the modern style in furniture is the fruit of the mingling and blending of different civilizations. These modern lines have existed since ancient times in Japanese furnishing, and Eastern furnishing generally... And who among us does not remember the low divans, the tables rising barely above the floor, and the cupboards set into the walls, with which our houses abounded not so long ago?! After these civilizations became acquainted and their arts intermingled, the first signs of the modern renaissance appeared in various countries of the globe, the northern lands taking the greatest share in fostering it.

Alma Kabir granted this idea, but would not surrender those countries' priority in the movement... and no wonder — she is Swedish by origin! And Nihad Bishawqi, who works as a secretary at Point Four, gave proof of her practical mind when there sprang to her thoughts the following question, touching whether our Lebanese houses and this furniture can agree! Munsif assured her that these furnishings suit our old houses perfectly — old in years only — except for their high ceilings, of course... and that defect is easily mended by way of colors. Kabir, for her part, voiced her admiration for Lebanon, ever first, to be sure, in adopting everything artistic and going deeply into it... In Beirut you see buildings that represent the very latest that modern architecture has attained on the outside, and the art of decoration on the inside! Then she added that modern furniture suits large houses and small alike, and that the choice of modern furnishings and modern colors is purely a matter of feeling, depending on the individual and his state of mind..!

Munsif was nodding his agreement when Layla broke in to ask him how one can furnish a small room without feeling cramped and 'cluttered' in it! His one piece of advice to her was to use a little furniture that performs several functions, and to choose well those colors whose virtue is to make a room look larger than it is.

There was no avoiding the financial side in our talk. Is the furniture of tomorrow, one wonders, more costly than the old? Our two experts answered at once: No — modern furniture costs far less!! Then Munsif confirmed this truth for us with proofs drawn from his own trials and his personal work. He is at present furnishing two hotels, one in the modern style and the other classical — the first cost roughly half what the second cost! This assurance warmed Layla's heart, she who loves to furnish her house in the modern fashion!!

Edvick Shayboub, for her part, wanted to know whether the raw materials are to be found in Lebanon and the Arab countries, or are imported from abroad. Munsif answered her that all the materials are imported from abroad. But Kabir cut him short, saying that in the work she carries on in Marjayoun she uses none but the raw materials found here — leather, straw, lemon-wood, iron, and rugs — and gets very good results from them, and... At these last words Munsif could only cry out in triumph: but iron is imported from Europe, and rugs from Persia?! ... Yet the last word stayed with Kabir, when she explained that she meant the rugs woven in Marjayoun! Here astonishment showed on every face. Are such rugs fit to be spread in wealthy palaces and sumptuous hotels? Mrs. Kabir could not persuade us by description, likeness, and comparison, until afterward we looked at some samples of her make... They are magnificent and plush, in unified, fast, beautiful colors... akin to the famous Chinese carpets, but more luxurious and finer.

In this connection Munsif laid before us a knotty social problem. The home decorator cannot, single-handed, encourage the small national industries that work to order. He cannot commission rugs, for example, because that takes a long time... so he buys what is ready-made in the market, most of it from abroad!

Nihad asked about the Lebanese bent in building — is it toward adopting the new, or holding to the familiar classical furniture? Munsif and Kabir were in complete agreement that the Lebanese leans toward adopting the modern in everything... Then the two fell to outdoing each other in citing examples of the splendor and modernity of our palaces, mansions, and hotels beside their counterparts in Europe and America. As for me, I was watching for a chance to ask whether the Lebanese woman is bolder than the man in this arena. Munsif's answer matched my guess — that woman is more daring than man in taking up the new... He accounted for this by woman's being ever alert to the changes of fashion where her own adornment is concerned... small wonder, then, that she should be alert to what is new in home decoration, within her own kingdom!!

The talk then turned to a most engaging matter — the colors preferred in the furniture of tomorrow. Edvick wished to know whether any general rule exists for the marrying of colors. Kabir said that all the general rules for marrying colors that she learned at school have flown from her memory; she follows none of them, but uses colors as she pleases... for the use of colors proceeds from feeling alone. Colors in the modern style call for courage, daring, and a love of change — nothing more!

Signs of protest appeared on Munsif's face: for all his belief that the use of color is a matter of feeling, he holds that a rule stands behind all the liberties taken in the blending of colors in the modern style... Nature, and unnatural conditions, influence the use of colors. The 'blackout' of the days of the last war produced a reaction in man, and there came a rush toward bright colors, many and strong. Red was used with yellow with blue, and all the rest of those strange and beautiful marriages... Today there is a second reaction, toward quiet colors. The reason is the strength of nature in our country. Powerful nature outside calls for quiet colors inside, and the reverse likewise.

And Kabir, and all of us, sat nodding our heads, marveling and agreeing at these simple, sensible explanations!

What, one wonders, are the colors most current this year? 'Gray, which blends easily with every color, and black, which is the latest turn in home decoration.' So said Munsif, worn out these days with furnishing a ministerial salon that joins black and gray with a little white and one very small patch of orange. Our first impulse was to protest, but we soon fell to admiring that novel new step!

Layla leaned forward to inquire how a lady can follow the new in planning her furniture while keeping an eye on economy. Camille Munsif smiled and began explaining how, by the use of colors, we can lend our houses the modern stamp. Colors, with a little furniture, make of the house a beautiful, livable place. Here he sighed, then said: what we lack in Lebanon are furniture exhibitions to show our ladies the evolution of taste and guide them to the best ways of following the new while keeping to economy. As for Kabir, her advice was to use local products, which express something of our history and our personality.

As for Nihad, despite her practical nature, she darted forward to ask him about old furniture, and what one is to do with it if we want to follow the new. Cannot old furniture easily be altered until it harmonizes with the modern style? She was set at ease by the affirmative answer she received. Old furniture stands high; so if you undertake to cut a few centimeters off its legs, it comes near the modern; but the essential change lies in color and in fabrics.

And while we were in the thick of this long and broad inquiry, a sudden idea settled upon us, which Layla voiced in all seriousness... the opening of a clinic for home decoration. Had a thunderbolt fallen in our midst, Camille Munsif could not have been more astounded than he was by this proposal!! He sat smiling, dumbfounded, while we showered him with explanations and directions concerning that clinic.

What say you, ladies, to a clinic like a doctor's — to which a lady would go to consult the official decorator on the fitness of a color she wishes to use with other colors in a certain room of the house?? Or on the measurements of a table she wants to set before a large chair, or on how to alter an old chair until it agrees with the rest of the furnishings — without engaging him to decorate her entire house — and, the examination over, the lady pays the price of the consultation and goes off easy in mind, carrying the decorator's prescription to apply at home!?!

At that point Edvick could only promise us, speaking for Camille Munsif — who had not yet come back from his daze — that he stands ready to give us all the needed guidance free of charge whenever we require it, even if he never does proceed to open such a clinic!!!