In this project, 1000 Lira w Lira we revisited the “1 Dollar Shop” concept and adapted it to the Lebanese Lira, an inflated currency that looses its value as we go, for value is a controversial topic.
1 Dollar Shops, Pound shops, are shops where you find many materials.

1 Dollar Shops, Pound shops, all share 1 rule: no matter how big or small the product, or what it is made of, it is sold at the same unit price, 1, (here, 1000).

1000 Lira w Lira shop is a shop of a “1000“ materials all represented in “1”:

A plaster tile of 250*250*15 mm with 1 variable engraved hatch that symbolizes the different materials: steel, glass, brass, etc.

However in this shop, tiles are sold according to the material they are referring to. And therefore, a brass/plaster tile is more expensive than a steel/plaster tile, of course.
In this shop you can find a “1000” different products from designer clothes to photographs to illustrations, all sold at a “1000”. Well, the currency varies with each product and 1000 as a number is big or small depending to what it is referring to. So you will find cheap or expensive, but those are relative terms.

A “1 Dollar shop” is usually a saving store for the mass.
Geographically, this Lira w Lira shop is located in Beirut Central District, one of the most expensive and “luxurious” location in town: A location where saving stores were gentrified. This project aims to both honour and re-invite the middle mass, the “1000” to join the privileged “1” in a small shop of 30sqm with 1 big changing room of 55sqm, where the budget is somewhere in between. Big or small we mean.

Photos by: Joe Khoury

1000 Lira w Lira
is a shop of
1000 materials all represented in
1 and its 1000 architectural, symbolic hatches.
1000 Lira w Lira
is a shop where
1000 ideas are collaged in 1.
1000 looks are unified.
1 memory is divided, multiplied, and scattered to the mile.
1 idea is documented in 1000 steps.
Or even sold, 1000 times.
1000 Lira w Lira
is the shop of
1000 designers. More like 7, where 2 make 1.
But the rest is yet to come.
1000 Lira w Lira is the hyperbolic/understated story of 1000/Lira and everything around those 2.