"Once you have put the pieces back together, even though you may look intact, you were never quite the same as you'd been before the fall."

Jodi Picoult

I was in Paris in June and I met up with my friend Benedicte, the owner of Beyt2bdesign who makes the lovely lamps that I have been selling for the past 7 to 8 years. Over a coffee that lasted more than 2 hours we talked about the closure of her business, new ideas and her fortcoming trip to Beirut to help her friends a little. Benedicte had been running a business- well a social enterprise creating the lovely handcrafted lamps and candleholders that I love and that many of my clients have in their home. She gave new life to pieces of balconies, balustrades, window surrounds that had been discarded, destroyed and transformed them with the help of her team of marginalised artisans. She found beauty in the broken. She rescued a disappearing heritage.

Benedicte was in Beirut when the explosion happened on 4th August..I was again in Paris...luckily she was ok.

I've been thinking of what I can do to give back- so I decided that I would donate £30 from the sale of each piece of my last collection of lamps and candleholders. I have decided to donate to IMPACT LEBANON (@impact.lebanon) https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/lebanon-relief

Everytime I see these lights they remind me of the pain the Lebanese people have gone though but also how things can be rebuilt little by little by communities- by people  and with every little help...

Everytime I turn on a lamp I see the light and a bit of hope for beauty to return...

Everytime I sell a lamp I know how much it will add to it's new surroundings...