Designer: Ibrahim Beqiri
Country: North Macedonia
Selected Awards: Golden Key Award, 2017 Young Balkan Designers, 2015
One city in constant transformation, another layered with centuries of history. Between these two contrasting urban worlds, Ibrahim Beqiri developed his perspective on architecture and design. Born in Prishtina, Kosovo, in 1993, he studied architecture at the University of Prishtina before completing his Master’s degree in Istanbul, where a different architectural heritage added new dimensions to his creative outlook.
In 2016, he co-founded Modul Academy in Prishtina, a creative platform bringing together architects, students, and designers through research, workshops, and experimentation. Six years later, he established SHAPE & SHADE, a multidisciplinary studio exploring architecture, furniture, urban spaces, and visual storytelling.
One of his most distinctive creations is the BOLD Shkam Chair, inspired by the traditional Albanian shkam stool. Reimagining a familiar cultural object through contemporary design, the chair received multiple awards in 2025.
Beqiri’s work has been showcased at Milan, Dutch, and Dubai Design Weeks, as well as Expo 2025 Osaka, representing Kosovo on the international stage. His philosophy revolves around a compelling idea: the past should not simply be preserved but reinterpreted to shape the future. For Beqiri, design is a form of storytelling, transforming cultural identity, collective memory, and local traditions into objects and spaces that speak to the world.
You can discover more about the story of Ibrahim in Creative Balkans: Contemporary Furniture Design.
“Good design is a dialogue between memory and possibility – it moves the past forward, grounds itself in the present, and imagines a future where the local becomes the new global.”
Name: BOLD Collection – Chairs, Coffee Tables
Producer: ELNOR Furniture
Year of production: 2025
Dimensions: 45 × 45 × 80 cm, 50 × 50 × 45 cm, 35 × 35 × 35 cm
Provided for the exhibition by: SHAPE&SHADE
Тhe BOLD Collection brings Kosovo’s craft heritage into a new conversation with contemporary design. Inspired by the traditional Albanian Shkam stool, it brings together sculptural furniture, recycled plastic, and handwoven textiles to explore how familiar forms and materials can take on new meaning. Each piece carries a trace of the past while imagining a different future.
