Farra Design Center

FARRA Design Center is a privately held home products retail store that sells imported furniture and home accessories. The company originated in Beirut, Lebanon, and started as a raw material supplier. The first FARRA store opened in Downtown Beirut in 1976 then moved to Dekwaneh in the early 1980s. In 2004, the company constructed a 7 floors showroom and moved its flagship store to Mkalles (Beirut).

FARRA Design Center
TypePrivate
GenreRetail (Specialty)
FoundedBeirut, Lebanon (1939)
FounderAnwar Farra
Headquarters155 Mkalles Main Street, Mkalles (Beirut) Lebanon
Area served
Lebanon, Middle-East, Europe & Western Asia
ProductsFurniture and Home Accessories
WebsiteFARRA.com

FARRA was founded in 1939 by Anwar Farra in Lebanon named after his family name. It is now privately held by the founder’s family and has since changed its legal name to: Société les fils d’Anwar Farra SAL under Lebanese entrepreneurial laws.

FARRA history

FARRA Design Center started as a raw material supplier in 1939 for furniture manufacturing and became a furniture importer and distributor in Lebanon.

1910-1960

The founder, Anwar Farra, was born in 1911. In 1939, he settled in Beirut to effectively run his raw material company. The company specialized in the import of raw material for the wood furnishing and furniture manufacturing industries.

1960-1990

The company expanded in the successful years of Lebanon, with the continuous development of new hotels and the need for tourist facilities. Around the 1980s, La Société les Fils d’Anwar Farra SARL was created when the company became operated by Anwar Farra closest family members.

1990s-2010s

From exclusive wholesaler supplier, the stores gave a larger focus on the consumer market to supply furniture directly to residential homes, offices, hotels and restaurants. In 2004, FARRA moved its flagship store to Mkalles Main Road. The new store doubled its capacity with 7 floors of showroom.

The company had a strong impact in its community with charitable donations. It started in 2004 a philanthropic division called Divine Details aimed to help young designers and architecture students become creative through competition, enhance their portfolios and find opportunities for local employment. The company is now one of the most recognizable brands in Lebanon.[1]

FARRA Stores

The company was launched in 1939 as a raw material supplier. The first FARRA store opened in Downtown Beirut in 1976 then moved to Dekwaneh in the early 1980s. Its store moved to a newly constructed building on Mkalles Main Street in 2004.[2]

Store format

The store has an architecture that uses glass on its rooftop with white painted side walls. This design has aesthetic and functional advantages. Skylights provide natural lighting that reduces energy costs.[3]

From the side road on the Mkalles (Beirut) highway, the store gives the impression of being a small boutique while it is actually a large retail store with 7 levels of showroom. This visual effect is because the store is built on the edge of a hill.

Interior architects and interior design consultants assist customers while they browse the store. They help customers narrow their choices based on their needs, color and texture preferences, and budget.

Not all furniture is displayed in the store. Particular colors of living rooms may be stocked in the warehouse and is presented on-demand. Sometimes a color and texture sample is presented to the customer to insure they meet their requirements. The FARRA Design Center website contains an overview of its furniture and home accessories collections.

Products

FARRA furniture, no matter if locally made or imported, is assembled by the company technicians. These technicians are responsible of the home deliveries and furniture assemblies.

Furniture

FARRA furniture is both locally engineered and designed in its interior design department and imported from international suppliers.[4] With this strategy, FARRA is one of the largest Lebanese furniture importer from North America and Europe (Italy and Spain).[5] Some selected products are manufactured in Lebanon for shorter delivery times and some specialized items are imported from Asia such as outdoor furniture for its teak wood and its choice of home accessories. FARRA imports its more luxurious accessories such as sculptures and crystals from Europe and from specialized suppliers in Lebanon.

International and Middle East design Projects

FARRA quotes International architectural and interior design projects. Its clients are hotels, restaurants, private villas, apartments, offices and residential compounds.

Hotel and Restaurant Supplier

FARRA has interior architects which can undergo heavyweight renovation and decoration projects. They coordinate between clients and suppliers to evaluate decoration needs, design mockups, suggest materials, follow up with final execution and deliver the final products.

Lebanon Projects

Qatar Project
  • Spring Compound Villas (Al Gharrafa)

Kuwait project

Iraq project

Cyprus project

FARRA Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Charitable giving

FARRA is involved in several Lebanese charitable causes[6][7] particularly with:

  • Home for the Elderly Sick (Centre Renee Wehbe / Foyer du vieillard malade (Mansourieh, Lebanon) – Hospital for the elderly in incurable condition
  • Injaz (Lebanon) division of Junior Achievement Worldwide - Extra-curricular entrepreneurship training to students in both public and private schools[8]
  • Trees4Lebanon (Lebanon) – Objective to plant 1 million trees by 2020[9]

Part of its philanthropy program, FARRA provides at the disposition of non-profit associations 1000m2 of its main floor to allow them to organize events and raise money for charity.

Environmental responsibility

The company selects suppliers with accountable productions, eco-sustainable values (for every tree cut, a new one is planted), and that respects ISO quality environmental standards. The company is one of the sponsors of the Lebanese Rotary project Trees4Lebanon which projects to plant 1 million new trees by 2020.[10]

FARRA events

FARRA founded in 2004 a non-for-profit philanthropic division called Divine Details which is officially dedicated to promote creativity in interior design and student projects.

Recent Divine Details events
  • Furniture competition (2004)[11]
  • Jewelry competition (2005)
  • Lebanese Painters Exhibit (2007)
  • Lebanese Carpet Exhibit (2009)
  • Christmas Tree competition (2009)
  • Lebanese Painters Exhibit (2010)[12][13]
  • Christmas Tree competition (2010)[14][15]
  • Divine Details Inter-University Furniture Contest (2011)[16][17]

References
  1. Top Retailers in Lebanon Marcopolis. Retrieved March 19, 2013.
  2. FARRA History Archived 2013-04-09 at archive.today Farra Design Center. Retrieved March 13, 2013.
  3. FARRA building construction Geha Engineering. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
  4. Italian manufacturers visit Farra Design Center PRlog (May 10, 2012)
  5. Lebanon furniture companies trading with Italy Archived 2012-03-04 at the Wayback Machine. Italian Trade Commission. Retrieved December 26, 2010
  6. Farra Design Center Donates Toys The Benevolent Lebanese Evangelical School for Special Education and Development. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
  7. Rotary District 2450 publication Archived 2012-03-17 at the Wayback Machine Reporter Magazine (December 23, 2006)
  8. Farra Helps Kids Economic Education PRlog (Jun 6, 2011)
  9. Trees4Lebanon Rotary Club Baabda Youtube (June 26, 2009)
  10. Trees 4 Lebanon Rotary Lebanon. Retrieved March 19, 2013.
  11. Divine Details "Lebanon's First International Furniture Competition" Furniture World Magazine (January 19, 2005)
  12. Couleur d'Automne Art Exhibit Time Out Beirut (October 21, 2010)
  13. Painting Exhibition at Farra Design Center Beirut Night Life (October 19, 2010)
  14. Farra Design Christmas Competition Beirut Night Life (December 13, 2010)
  15. Christmas at Farra Design Center, Beirut Time Out Beirut (December 28, 2010)
  16. Divine Details Inter-University Furniture Contest Baldati (June 8, 2011)
  17. Divine Details 2011 Inter-University Furniture Contest Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Beirut Night Life (June 3, 2011)
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