About Gregory

Of Georgian origin and raised in France until 1967, Gregory Gatserelia pursued his passion for art and design in his beloved Lebanon, earning a degree in Interior Architecture from the Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts. Since then, Beirut has become both his home and his muse, a city that continues to inspire his ever-evolving work. His contributions to the design world have earned him widespread international recognition, including repeated accolades from Architectural Digest, which has listed him among the world’s top interior designers.

At the heart of Gregory’s work lies an unrelenting creative drive, shaped by literature, film, personal experience, and above all, a deep, enduring love for art and design. Often described as a mentor and talent scout, Gregory has played a pivotal role in ushering contemporary aesthetics into Lebanon’s design landscape, particularly in the residential sphere.

His refined taste and remarkable versatility have also defined some of Beirut’s most iconic commercial venues, exclusive spaces where high society gathers and Beirut’s unforgettable evenings come alive.

As an art dealer and collector, Gregory is equally known for his reverence for craftsmanship. Through his SMO Gallery, he has been instrumental in laying the groundwork for Lebanon’s nouvelle vague of artists and designers, a generation that continues to build upon his vision and revive local creative production.

During a visit to the Najem Group’s factory, renowned for its exceptional range of stone and marble, Gregory, accompanied by Nour Najem, whose family heritage is rooted in the industry, observed the many discarded fragments left behind by artisan work. Each piece held the memory of what it once was.

Rather than allow these remnants to go unused, Gregory, together with Nour Najem and Guilaine Elias, conceived FRAGMENTA: an exhibition inviting designers, established and emerging, to reimagine these forgotten materials into unique collectible works, whether functional or purely artistic.

Hosted within the factory itself and made accessible through its support in covering material and labor costs, FRAGMENTA transcends sustainability. For Gregory, it is about opportunity, transformation, and the poetic awakening of stone, each fragment carrying its own silent story and marking the beginning of a new one through the creativity of the designers.