coqlico

Today I attended the launch of the rehabilitation of Lebanon’s public library network at the Ministry of Culture.

Libraries preserve more than books.

They preserve memory.
They preserve questions.
They preserve the evidence of how a society understood itself at a particular moment in time.

Listening to the discussions, meeting Minister Ghassan Salamé, and walking through the National Library, I found myself thinking about a project I have been quietly developing for years.

What began as an attempt to document the journey of building Coqlico gradually became something larger: an investigation into creativity, uncertainty, production, failure, persistence, and the survival of dreams.

The manuscript is called “The Dream in the Dreams Killer Country”.

It remains unfinished.

But today was a reminder that preserving knowledge is not only the responsibility of institutions. Sometimes it begins with a notebook, a photograph, a prototype, a document, or a story someone decides is worth keeping.

The work continues.

Some of us didn’t grow in easy places.

We learned to stay soft
in environments that were not.

We carried things we never chose,
and still found a way to bloom.

Les épines ont des roses.

This piece is for that quiet strength —
the kind no one sees,
but everyone feels.

Made by hand in Lebanon.
1 of 1.

Sometimes the vessel holds warmth.
Sometimes it holds memory.

And sometimes, sadly…
it holds the silence left behind.

In every home, in every story,
there is a moment the heart wishes
had never arrived.

The vessel of every moment.
Even the ones we wish to forget.

— Coqlico®

The vessel of every heartfelt story.

Some stories are spoken.
Some are written.
Some are simply held.

This is where warmth gathers.
Where silence listens.
Where memory settles softly.

Not just a form.
A keeper.

—
Coqlico®

It doesn’t start when it’s lit.
It starts when it’s poured.
Wax measured.
Wicks placed.
Form respected.
This is not decoration.
This is preparation.
Before fire, there is discipline.
—
Coqlipot®
Beirut