0408: A Memorial for Beirut Made from Explosion Debris by two Lebanese Designers.

Concept graphics for 4080 memorial object by Cynthia el Frenn and Yara Chaker.

On August 4th 2020, in Beirut, Lebanon, an unforgettable explosion killed more than 200 people, wounded more than 6,000 and displaced more than 300,000. A passer-by, a flâneur, a woman, a child, a home… Preys of this attack.

Today Beirut is still shedding glass and tears, but one detail prevails – the unbelievable willingness of the Lebanese people to participate in a shared project of extraordinary complexity: to rise the city from its ashes.

In trying to communicate their reflections, two Lebanese architects and designers, Cynthia el Frenn and Yara Chaker, came together to commemorate all those who were lost.

“How can we materialize our memories? How, through an object, can we convey all these emotions? How can we translate such an intangible subject?” These were some of the questions the duo pondered.



“Walking through what was left of Beirut, all we could hear was the sound of glass crackling under our feet and all that we saw was dust and stone left from the collapsed buildings,” says the duo. “We wanted to explore the idea of a memory object, which in form, colour and material can reflect the modern idea of a personal commemoration – but also hope to unite and rebuild.”



0408 was created using pieces of glass and stone salvaged from the city after the explosion. The timelessness provided by the marble, once part of a coffee table, and the clarity suggested by the spherical recycled glass represent the connection between life and death, present and future, despair and hope – a reflection of each and every one of us.

Fragments of glass collected after the explosion.

Sarafand glass foundry in Beirut.

[Images courtesy of Cynthia el Frenn & Yara Chaker. Photography by Cynthia el Frenn, Yara Chaker & Michele Aoun.]