Tayef Ben Messalem-Farrar

Born in Damascus, Tayef had the pleasure of living, working and playing in the UAE, Lebanon, Syria & USA. Tayef holds a BS in Graphic Design and minor in Fine Arts with honors from the Lebanese American University in Beirut (LAU) in 2005 in addition to an Award of Highest Achievement in Graphic Design Discipline. In 2009, she earned her MFA in Digital + Media from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).
In that same year Tayef’s thesis project was displayed at the RISD MFA Thesis Show, in addition to having a chapter of her thesis published in the RISD Digital + Media Graduate Student Journal Publication. In 2008 Tayef’s work was exhibited in two shows: Experiencing the War in Iraq, a multi-media art exhibition hosted by Reconnect US Organization, & Micromediations Digital + Media Graduate Student Show, both in Rhode Island, USA. Previously, her work was displayed at the TypoGraphic Beirut seminar exhibition in Lebanon (2005), Tasmeem Doha seminar in Qatar (2004), and design exhibitions Closer (2004) and Layered (2003), hosted annually by the Lebanese American University in Beirut.
Tayef prefers to work as a multi-media designer, rather than limit herself to one medium. This allows her to indulge in her passion for print while still making advances in the developing market of digital media and interactivity.
Today, Tayef runs a Brooklyn based interdisciplinary design studio; Ground Up Designers LLC, in collaboration with two other designers. She continues freelancing as a Multimedia-Graphic Designer, in addition to nurturing her own art practice. Tayef lives in a pretty brown stone with her husband Josh; a writer & musician, & their Beagle-German Sheperd dog, Popeye.