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The Wounded Wall
2014
180 x 43 x 103 cm
Concrete
The Wounded Wall is a sculptural bar cast in concrete, inspired by the bullet-marked façades that still punctuate the streets of Beirut — a city whose architecture continues to whisper stories of violence, absence, and resilience. More than a functional object, it serves as a vessel of memory, transforming the physical traces of war into an artistic gesture of endurance and reflection. It is not a reconstruction, nor a memorial in the traditional sense, but an act of transformation — an attempt to translate urban trauma into a tangible expression of perseverance. By turning a place of gathering into a site of remembrance, the piece symbolically reclaims the public space once fractured by conflict. It exposes rather than conceals the city’s wounds, questioning how beauty, pain, and memory can coexist. Ultimately, The Wounded Wall asks: can design heal without forgetting? By transforming concrete — a material of both construction and destruction — into a space for communion, it turns the residue of war into an architecture of resilience, bridging the silence between what was endured and what must still be spoken.
Founded by Gilbert Debs and Claudia Chahine, Opus Magnum Studio is distinguished by its rigorous investigation of matter, its seamless integration of craft and design, and its commitment to bespoke production. Operating from their Beirut workshop, the two founders conceive, engineer and hand-cast each piece themselves, controlling every stage from material formulation to finishing, and thus creating works that transcend the boundaries between furniture, sculpture and architecture. Gilbert brings over three decades of R&D experience: his signature innovation lies in combining disparate materials—metals, mineral aggregates, resins, glass and wood—so that each retains its inherent nature while giving rise to unexpected textures, patinas and structures. Through her background in interior design, Claudia translates these material explorations into forms and narratives: her design language is rooted in archaeology, place, heritage and nature. Their output spans monumental installations, custom furniture editions and highly curated surface systems for luxury interiors. Their works illustrate their commitment to ecological, social awareness, material truth and handcrafted singularity. With over two decades of commissions for international designers, architects and collectors, Opus Magnum Studio remains dedicated to pushing the boundaries of what raw matter can become.