The
Founder’s Vision
The project arose out of my lifelong passion for a particular
creative atmosphere I discovered years ago in the studios and
ateliers of Damascus, an artistic eco-system which I lived and
breathed and which produced so many of my favourite artists, many of
them friends.
The stables at Aley were a relic from the Civil War, which I found
unloved like the walnut tree suffering sadly in the grounds. As a
civil engineer, I saw the opportunity to turn the stables into
something beautiful and also symbolic: ruined and in trouble but
still possessing an inner beauty it was impossible to mistake, and
which the right amount of love and energy could revive into
something productive and new.
It’s a space of freedom and hope for every young Syrian artist.
Raghad Mardini