Annabel Karim Kassar

Annabel Karim Kassar is a French-Lebanese architect and designer.  She attended the School of Architecture (Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris) and graduated DPLG.  Founder of AKK Architects with offices in Beirut, Dubai and London, it has developed masterplans; commercial, cultural and historical residential buildings; and interiors for office spaces, bars, clubs and restaurants using its unique furniture and lighting collections.

Annabel Karim Kassar has lived and worked in many countries, France, Lebanon, Morocco, Great Britain and the U.A.E and has the ability required to work within different cultures.  Annabel has extensive experience of projects with diverse functions and of working internationally.
She has won awards for large-scale public installations including ‘Mezzing in Lebanon’, the Pavilion of Lebanon installation won the London Design Biennale Medal in 2016 and ‘Camera Chiara’ at Milan Design Week 2015.  The studio’s Al Zorah Pavilion won an Iconic Award in 2015 and a German Design Award in 2016.  In the mid 90’s, she was declared winner of the competition to redesign the cinema multiplex in Downtown Beirut Souks.

High-profile hospitality projects include the Momo and Almaz restaurants in London and the Middle East, as well as the nightclub Strange Fruit and two Balima restaurants in Beirut.

Annabel is currently working on a range of major international projects including a multipurpose commercial build in Chengdu, China; a large-scale restoration and conservation project of a 19th century traditional house in Beirut, Lebanon, shortlisted in the World Architecture Festival’s Final Future Project Awards category in 2019, and a commission by Al Zorah-Solidere International of a Golf Club in Ajman (architecture and FF&E) which is part of the city’s redevelopment.

AKK’s architecture combines a modernist vocabulary with the detailed craftsmanship and aesthetic of traditional Arab, Berber and Ottoman culture.  Her career has been devoted to exploring the frontier between eastern and western design in a series of major building projects across North America, the Levant and the Gulf.

Annabel believes that the emotional, humanistic approach to designing interior spaces found in traditional cultures still has much to teach the modern world.  Her unique furniture designs also combine oriental craft and colour with a contemporary aesthetic.

In 2020, Annabel began collaborating with the Italian pioneer of unique and functional furniture, Moroso, to design a collection called ‘Salon Nana’ launched in Milan in September 2021.

During the 2020 lockdown, Annabel created a modular seating system and interior design process for a residential property in Central London.  

Current projects include two projects to coincide with Salone del Mobile 2023, the renovation of a four-storey London townhouse as well as the landscape architecture; a new range of cushions and artwork for a hospitality project Ella Funt in New York and a Golf Club in Ajman, UAE.