Samar is a Beirut-born polymath, artist, futurist, and educator, and the visionary behind SAMARITUAL, a multidisciplinary creative studio at the crossroads of art, craft, fashion, design, and culture. Known as a creative catalyst, her studio is dedicated to radical fusion and experimentation with generative artificial intelligence, artisanal craftsmanship, and cultural and ancestral intelligence. A Central Saint Martins alumna with a background in architecture, scenography, and visual communication, Samar has over 20 years of experience as an artistic director and creative brand strategist in the retail world. Her work poetically blurs the lines between various vernacular aesthetic-based disciplines, exploring them through each other's lens, craft, and method, and interconnecting themes around humanity, planet, and technology. She instigates projects that explore global south futures, otherworldly narratives, interspecies harmonies, , healing, repair, circular and regenerative economies, craft and design, along with kaleidoscopic pluriverse identities. Samar is dedicated to fostering interconnectedness, radical imagination, and visionary world-building, shaping the cultural playgrounds of tomorrow.
Samar, is a sought-after speaker and educator,. She mentors at New Inc’s New Museum of Contemporary Arts in NYC. and served as a juror for the Frame Awards 2023.
Work history
Founder, Chief Imagination Officersamaritual
New York, United StatesFull Time
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VP Creative DirectorShowfields, NYC
- New York, United StatesFull Time
Creative leader and advisor to the CEO, on the leadership team, overseeing the brand image, artistic vision, curatorial style direction, store design, and customer experience across all touch points to drive brand awareness and amplify revenue potential.
Highlights include building and launching:
- Refinement & Update of brand positioning & strategy, revising point of view, brand voice,, target audience, image, logo and brand book.
- Launch of an innovative hybrid new store design concept, bespoke in store art, pop up design and branded fixtures strategy.
- creation and launch of a curatorial Style Direction and methodology for Seasonal Campaigns and Art.
- Design and Launch of Website and updated approach to the omni-channel digital marketing strategy
- Innovative web3 circular projects such as a fully AR magazine, a Branded Avatar and community token concept.
- Attracting and inspiring a more connected mission driven audience and brands with an updated revenue model and experience journey.
- Building and developing an interdisciplinary internal diverse teams, and external partnerships with artists, artisans, makers and craftsman.
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Skills
- Creative Direction
- Concept Building
- Leadership
- Creative Marketing
- Design Direction
- Design Education
- Forecasting
- Foreign Languages
- Trend Prediction
- Arts Culture
Education
Theater, Architectural, Interior, Industrial and Graphic DesignCentral Saint Martins (UAL)
- London, United Kingdom
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Architecture Interior DesignAcadémie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts Beirut
- Beirut, Lebanon
Awards
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Best Store Design and Visual MerchandisingPave Gala
Winner for Best Store Design concept and visual merchandising for Showfields