Wallpaper* Design Awards: how David/Nicolas reimagined a 1990 Porsche 964 Targa

What do you get a design-minded young woman for her 20th birthday? Well, if you’re Assaad Raphael, the founder of Porsche Centre Lebanon, the only gift that could possibly mark the occasion is a customised Porsche – reimagined by Milan studio David/Nicolas.

Raphael is something of a car obsessive, and for the past two-plus decades has been the sole importer of Porsche in Lebanon – in addition to co-owning a garage that restores classic cars in Dubai. ‘At the time, my daughter Shaha was studying architecture and not really into cars,’ he says. ‘So I thought this would be a great way to introduce her to this world.’

He knew that simply buying a luxury vintage model would do little to pique her interest, so he approached the duo with the idea of letting her shape the project herself. She was already aware of David/Nicolas cofounders David Raffoul and Nicolas Moussallem – both were similarly raised in Beirut – but a chance meeting at a dinner party sealed the collaboration.

‘It was a dream project,’ recounts Raffoul, who, prior to pursuing interior architecture, had planned to study automotive design, going so far as to be accepted into a master’s programme in the UK. For Raphael, there was no doubt that their retro-futuristic style and finely calibrated sensibility would be a good fit. They had already proven themselves adept with sensitive legacy projects. At the time, they were busy reimagining Gio Ponti’s Casa di Fantasia apartment, the midcentury designer’s surrealist Gesamtkunstwerk in Milan.

In terms of the brief, Raphael let them run free. ‘It was really carte blanche,’ he says. ‘I wanted to see how designers who are not from the industry approached designing a car. It was as new for them as it was for me.’

Their canvas was a 1990 Porsche 964 Targa, a pocket-sized two-seater convertible chosen for its versatility. It has similar proportions to older models, which allowed them to echo retro silhouettes, yet the comparatively modern dashboard would enable them to add conveniences such as better air conditioning and Bluetooth audio. ‘This is one of the only Porsche models that can be backdated, yet has the technology for more modern ways of driving,’ says Moussallem.

The pair looked to classic Porsches for inspiration, particularly 911s from the past. ‘The car doesn’t have a specific age, but it now has the lines of a 1970s model,’ notes Moussallem. Because of the complicated engineering, however, there were limits to what could be changed. ‘We had to respect the existing placement of things,’ he adds. ‘The car is engineered in a way that you can’t really remove anything.’

The final palette was deliberately restrained. ‘It was a game of balancing colours, contrasts, finishes and materials,’ continues Moussallem. They chose British racing green to unify both the interior and exterior of the vehicle. The main overhaul was reserved for the interior: reconfiguring the handbrake in oiled teak; recasting the dials and gearshift in machined brass; designing the ladder-stitched diagonal embroidery on the leather seats that recalls the motifs often found on their own furniture; and refitting the central console in aluminium. More than anything, they sought a more tactile, pared-back user experience. ‘We tried to simplify the way you interact with the car,’ says Moussallem. ‘Anything we could remove, we did.’

To get to that point was an eight-year odyssey that stretched between Milan, Beirut and the UK. Raffoul and Moussallem worked with artisans in Treviso (the same team they call on for their interior projects) to fashion the interior joinery and metal details. For the leather seats, they turned to the highly specialised artisans at London-based Connolly, the fourth-generation leather tanner and currier that has been outfitting luxury automotives since the dawn of motoring itself – and the only company Raphael would trust with such an important bespoke project.

Once finished, the car was meant to be shipped back to Beirut, but ‘unhappy events in Lebanon, including the port blast and the Covid-19 pandemic, meant the car remained in Italy for four years’, recounts Raphael. ‘But finally it made it back, where we restored the body, the underbody and the suspension.’

In terms of performance, they took a purist approach. ‘I’m a keen believer that classic cars should be driven as they were meant to be,’ says Raphael. ‘What you want at the end of the day is to smell the burned oil and feel the gearbox as it was at the time.’

While the build itself was an exercise in devotion, for Raphael, the project was always driven by something larger than aesthetics or engineering. It was, ultimately, an act of passing something on. Shaha is now 29 and a successful designer in her own right, with a sensibility shaped by both her architectural training and the world she grew up in. ‘I wanted to transmit my passion to my daughter,’ he reflects. ‘And what David and Nicolas created is a work of art.’

Discover all the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2026 winners in the February issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News + from 8 January 2025. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today