Mitri, of French-Lebanese parentage, left Lebanon in the early 1980s to settle in the South of France. To start with he studied stylism in Aix, before buying a disused mill at Chutes Lavie in Marseille a few years later. ‘‘I have been living and working here ever since,’’ he says gaily, adding ‘‘It took me a long time to convert the space. The result is that here we are in this huge loft, a living and working space in one, with the workshop on the ground floor, the office upstairs and, up more stairs, the huge apartment and rooftop. As to my creations, I call myself a stylist, not a designer. Because I always start from what already exists, the better to draw out my customers’ memories and emotions. My greatest reward is when someone recovers a memory through one of my objects. When a fabric, a shape or a material awakens their senses and conjures up something from their life. That’s probably why my output is still fairly limited. I love what I do, at my own pace, and for me that’s all that counts.’’ Under his brand name Boboboom, Mitri mainly produces lighting and small furniture items like chairs and stools. You can find his work at the Bar à Bulles in the Moulin Rouge in Paris, in a Berlin museum, at the Sketch restaurant in London and in several hotels in France. Here in the South, his creations can be seen in Le Marais restaurant in Hyères and a few (too few!) other places like Marianne Cat, Italian restaurant Il Refettorio and Chez Mimi (all in Marseille).
Côteweb 2021, création de site Internet sur Nice