The House of MARK / GIUSTI announces its Salone del Mobile 2026 theme.

For Salone del Mobile 2026, The House of MARK / GIUSTI will present Li Beirut: Between Shadow and Light at Casa Giusti, our flagship and Creative Hub in Milan’s Porta Venezia Design District, from 21 to 27 April 2026.

This project is deeply personal to me.

My recent trip to the Middle East and GCC region, together with returning to Beirut after an absence of nine years, reawakened a profound sense of warmth, memory, and belonging. It left me even more in love with the city that taught me so much as a young child.

Beirut is not simply a place I think about. It is something I carry within me. A city of life, beauty, fragility, elegance, resilience, and soul. A city that instils a certain love for life and aliveness in your body that is difficult to feel anywhere else. A place where light can carry you away, and where shadow can reveal the deepest sense of unity and strength, showing you what you are truly made of. It is a city that has risen a thousand times and again, yet still keeps its smile, its scent, its warmth, and its ability to welcome you with open arms.

I realised that what Beirut represents goes far beyond geography. It speaks of identity, memory, tenderness, and survival. It speaks of home,  not only as a physical place, but as an emotional one.

And perhaps that is why this year’s theme felt so right.

I wanted to pay homage to Beirut — to its beauty, to its design language, to its spirit — and to make visitors feel a sense of being there from the moment they enter.

With Li Beirut: Between Shadow and Light, I wanted to create more than an installation. I wanted to create an immersive atmosphere. A feeling. A space that invites people not only to look, but to feel. A contemporary reinterpretation of a traditional Beirut living room, shaped by memory, emotion, material, scent, light, and design.

This is not about nostalgia.
This is about a feeling.

It is about the ways a space can hold history without becoming trapped in it. The ways design can preserve memory while still feeling alive, current, and open to interpretation. And for me, that is what meaningful design should do. It should carry a story. It should protect something. It should connect past and present in a way that feels honest and deeply human.

At MARK / GIUSTI, this has always been part of our philosophy. Whether through our leather goods, our mosaic-inspired language, or the spaces we create, I have always believed that beauty should be layered with meaning. That objects should be more than functional. That craftsmanship should carry emotion. That heritage should not be forgotten, but reinterpreted and lived with.

For Salone 2026, Casa Giusti will become exactly that kind of living narrative.

The space will be transformed into an intimate world inspired by Beirut — a world where material, atmosphere, and memory exist in dialogue. Within this setting, a curated selection of MARK / GIUSTI pieces, together with our newly launched Casa Giusti home accessories, will be presented not simply as products, but as part of a larger story, integrated into the environment, in conversation with the architecture, the furniture, and the spirit of the installation.

One of the central elements of the project will be the architectural arch, a form deeply rooted in Lebanese domestic architecture and symbolic of openness, continuity, and passage. For me, the arch holds something timeless. It speaks of thresholds, between spaces, between memories, between the past and what comes next.

To bring this vision to life, I am honoured to collaborate with two Lebanese creatives whose work resonates deeply with the spirit of the project and with the mission of our Creative Hub, which is dedicated to supporting independent designers.

Youssef El Hady / YEH Studios will present a curated selection of sculptural furniture and objects that move between heritage and abstraction, unfolding like fragments of memory. His work carries a beautiful emotional restraint — architectural, poetic, and quietly powerful. Materials such as wood, brass, marble, stainless steel, and glass become part of a language that feels both grounded and dreamlike. Selected archival paintings from his renowned artist grandmother will also be woven into the scenography, adding another deeply personal layer to the narrative.

Alongside him, Rami Lazkany has been commissioned to create a site-specific installation inspired by the iconic arches and windows that define Lebanese architectural identity. Known for his contemporary interpretations of Beirut’s historic houses, Rami brings an approach that is both respectful and forward-looking. His work captures the poetry of those familiar forms while allowing them to evolve into something sculptural and emotionally resonant.

This dialogue between Lebanese design and the world of MARK / GIUSTI means a great deal to me.

As with previous Design Weeks, we are also working on a full programme of experiences and moments that will evolve throughout the week in the spirit of Beirut, allowing visitors to discover something different each day.

Supporting independent creative voices from Lebanon and the wider region has long been close to my heart. Our Creative Hub was never conceived as a simple store. It was created as a platform, a place where design, craft, art, and cultural dialogue could meet in a meaningful way. A place where stories from different parts of the world could be given context, visibility, and space to breathe.

This is why the collaboration feels so aligned with the deeper mission of The House of MARK / GIUSTI.

Through Li Beirut: Between Shadow and Light, we continue to build that bridge, between East and West, between craft and contemporary design, between memory and material, between what is inherited and what is still to be imagined.

For me, that is the future of meaningful luxury.

Not simply creating beautiful things, but creating the conditions for beauty, culture, and memory to be experienced more deeply.

I look forward to welcoming you into this world during Salone del Mobile 2026.

With love, light, and kindness,
Mark Farhat Giusti