Marqueterie de Beyrouth

Mother-of-pearl inlay is Levantine patience made visible: walnut wood, hand-cut shell, and hours of fitting slivers the size of a fingernail. This Beirut atelier learned the craft from Damascene masters and keeps its geometry strict — no shortcuts, no plastic shell, no printed patterns.

Boxes and backgammon boards leave the bench only when the surface runs flush under a fingertip. The atelier signs and dates the underside of every piece; a lot, here, is a bench-month of work.