The luxury of home takes on new meaning as far too many people in the world are bereft of one due to incessant destruction caused by war.
May Daouk’s exquisite home, Beirut, Lebanon. (Photo: Simon Watson)
New definiton of luxury of home.
In June 2019, The Telegraph wrote that 70 million people were displaced due to war, persecution, or conflict. What a staggering number and that was four years ago.
Setting aside the absolute horror of so many being killed or injured, the focus of this post is about habitat. Home is everything. It provides a feeling of comfort and love. Just walking in makes one relax. What unimaginable stress these displaced people must feel living in tents or on the street. Mothers who cannot tuck their children into bed at night. Fathers who cannot act as head of the household when there is none. The luxury of home now means being able to make dinner and then clean up the dishes. Household chores are certainly less burdensome these days for those lucky enough to be able to perform them.
Exotic beauty.
Interior designer May Daouk created the beautiful home pictured above and below. Ottoman textiles, shades of purple, stone, and dramatic architectural details make this home unforgettable.
A now indulgent image of luxury considering recent news.
Heartbreaking destruction.
May Dauok’s living room after the explosion. (Photo: Homes & Antiques)
August 4, 2020, Lebanon was rocked by a massive explosion of ammonium nitrate that was being warehoused at the Port of Beirut. As a result, 220 people were killed and 330,000 people were left without homes. May’s colorful carefully assembled rooms were now grey with dust and debris.
(Photo: @indagarefounder)
Above is the Sursock Palace. The historic architecture housing Ottoman treasures inside made it a feature of Melissa Biggs Bradley’s Indagare Insider Trips.
(Photo: @davidandnicolas)
Above is the office of interior design firm david/nicolas. Fortunately, the pair was not inside at the time of the blast.
These images from Lebanon were due to a tragic accident. More often destruction is intentional.
Families without homes.
Artist Zena el Khalil. (Photo: Eva Zayat)
Researching buildings that have been destroyed by war, I came across this story on the TED blog.
An exerpt:
Artist Zena el Khalil doesn’t have the family home she remembers from childhood. Her mother’s house in Lebanon was destroyed in a U.S. bomb attack in 1983, while her father’s house was occupied by the Israeli army for 22 years, until its withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. “Every home my grandfathers built was destroyed, bombed or occupied,” says Khalil.
This realization has led her to a notable turn away from her previously flamboyant work, like running around Beirut in a big pink wedding dress to spread a message of love and peace, and creating hot pink glittery sculptures mocking gender and political stereotypes. Her latest work soberly examines one of the harshest realities of living with war — displacement, and the loss of home.
To read the remainder of this article see here.
There is so much beauty around the world. Why do we carelessly destroy it? What will these homeless children grow up to be like as adults not having had basic comforts? If only mothers were the ones to make decisions about warfare. The world would look very different. The luxury of home would be more about decorating one rather than simply having one.
Casa V Interiors is an Orlando-based interior design firm.