About Us
Who We Are
Our way of living is shifting and evolving more day by day. Essential concepts like up-cycling are resurfacing and becoming important factors in sustainable and eco-living.
We offer a variety of products; from furniture pieces, walling and flooring, to decorative items. Whatever you have in mind, we can recreate – ethically.
Our mission
Zap Idea is a social Enterprise that works on upcycling materials in a modern innovative way away from the traditional method. Zap Idea start from three basic problems
The spread of desertification, climate change, deforest, and increase waste.
Lack of job opportunities for young people. As well as the limited income of most workers.
Lack of experience of university graduates in the labor market.
A Story of Zap Idea
Have you ever wondered what happens to the wood that is thrown away as waste? How much of it is burned, releasing harmful gases into the atmosphere? How much of it could be reused, recycled, or repurposed into something useful and beautiful? In this article, I will tell you the story of Zap Idea, a Lebanese startup that transforms wood waste into high-quality furniture and accessories, using creativity, innovation, and environmental awareness.
Zap Idea was born out of a journalistic investigation by Adnan, who was researching the forest fires that occurred in 2019. He discovered, according to a study in 2018, that 4% of Lebanon’s waste is wood, which is equivalent to 13,600 trees cut down every year and thrown away in Lebanon, which already suffers from a waste problem. A treasure that evaporates into poison.
The tragedy was huge! Most of the waste is burned, releasing toxic gases that pollute the air and harm the ozone layer. For every one ton of wood burned, 1,500 cubic meters of carbon dioxide are produced, while the average price of one cubic meter of wood in the market is about $1,000. It is literally a process of turning treasure into poison! But can we do something? Can we recycle this wood?
The elixir of life
Turning ashes into gold is really possible, but the elixir of life does not require an alchemist, but rather a social and environmental awareness, as well as a little alertness, a small factory, skilled hands, a good market study, a spirit of adventure, and a lot of will and patience.
The research began to see how much wood is a creative and malleable material that can be reused in creative ways, but we found that there are already some people who work on recycling, but they are small shops that make light furniture of very low quality and designs that cannot be used in homes, as they use large spaces with little utility that do not meet the real need.
Challenges and opportunities
We are used to reading problems as opportunities, so we took advantage of the quarantine period to study the market transformations in depth and to develop and grow the idea, and to apply for training and competitions. And after the end of the quarantine period, we started working on new products of our own, meeting the needs of the largest percentage of people in the region, from “Master Piece” to “multi-function furniture from recycled wood” to “seasonal collection” to “standard furniture” to “board games” in addition to the customisation design service according to the order.
We went through a lot of challenges due to market fluctuations and currency fluctuations, and we seized many opportunities represented by training, networking, competitions and business accelerators that were present in the region.
And today we have a factory in the port in Tripoli, and the company’s office in Azmi Street, with a team of five creative people, and a lot of temporary work opportunities, and training opportunities.
How do we start with zero capital?
Through relationships, we started an interior design project for a clothing store and relied on the customer’s deposit to bring the raw materials for the project, as well as relying on our relationships with suppliers and craftsmen in the market and we started working, which resulted in very satisfactory results and so the project began to grow. Then came Corona.
The identity
After the study, we found that we can target the market with high-quality products with distinctive designs that meet the need of recycled wood and we relied initially on custom projects according to the order and need, and on this basis we used the name Zap Idea, which indicates that we are able to create design ideas that meet the customer’s needs and implement them from recycled wood with high quality, and this is what the beginning with the letter Z indicated, the end and giving the piece of wood a new beginning indicated by the letter A, which means “renew life”, which we chose as our slogan. We also chose the golden ratio 1.618 as a visual identity for our designs because it is the most common ratio in nature, in order to convey our message in protecting the environment and the universe.
Purposeful marketing
Through marketing our brand, we aim to raise awareness of the importance of recycling, the danger of cutting and burning trees, in addition to the importance of supporting communities for startups, as well as consolidating our message that is concerned with protecting the environment and sustainable development of communities through high-quality products built visually on the golden ratio.
The child who was born from the forest to defend the marginalized
The vulnerable groups in our societies suffer a lot of marginalization, so we summoned Enkidu from the Epic of Gilgamesh to help them through a brand bearing his name that works to manufacture elegant and distinctive accessories and gifts made from recycled wood of high quality, part of whose profits go to support the marginalized groups and humanitarian issues.
cubic meters of
recycled wood
job opportunities
temporary job opportunities
trainees and interns
How we work
Through recycling wooden pallets, old furnishings, and other used materials, we create the following products and services.
Brainstorming
Generate innovative ideas for repurposing wood in our Brainstorming section, where creativity takes center stage, and your imagination sparks the journey.
Research
Dive into the science of wood recycling in our Research zone, exploring sustainable practices, environmental benefits, and cutting-edge technologies shaping the future of responsible wood reuse.
Sketch
Unleash your creativity on paper in the Sketch section, where concepts come to life through detailed sketches, offering a canvas for transforming recycled wood into tangible projects.
Recycle
Visit our Recycling Hub to learn step-by-step processes, sorting methods, and eco-friendly techniques, empowering you to turn discarded wood into renewed, purposeful creations.
Build & Finish
Elevate your creations in the Finish section, discovering the art of adding final touches that enhance the beauty and durability of your recycled wood projects, leaving a lasting, sustainable impression.
