Noor Adabachi (he/him)
Board Member

Stage and Environmental Designer/ Sculptor/ Community Builder

In 1957, Noor Adabachi (he/him) was born in Beirut, Lebanon.  A young country recently “liberated” from the influence of colonization. He was barely 18 at the start of the Lebanese civil war and was forced out of his native land to ironically take refuge in the land of his colonizer.  Eager to discover himself as an artist and guided by his rebellious and opportunist nature; he jumped right into the rabble-rousing dance and theater world of 1970’s France. Moving to California in the 80’s, he studied Stage & costume design at CalArts. Noor is a graduate of the California Institute of the Arts: CalArts,  where he studied set and costume design. Recent work includes: Aviva Arts’ Burning Wild Director Debórah Eliezer, in Potrero neighborhood, foolsFURY’s: Dionysus Was Such a Nice Man, director Ben Yalom,  (dis)Place[d], director by Ben Yalom, The Unheard of World, director Michelle Haner, and Faulted, director Evren Odcikin. After working on theater and dance productions in Los Angeles in the early 80's he concentrated on custom furniture design and fabrication for 35 years creating work for Milton Katselas,Oprah Winfrey, Catherine Bell, Guy Laliberté, founder of Cirque du Soleil and many others. His work has been featured in architectural magazines and on E The Entertainment Channel.

In 2016, with his partner Debórah Eliezer, Noor started an artist retreat center among the redwoods of Sonoma County.  In August 2020, the Walbridge fire swept through the surrounding mountains, consumed 150 acres of forest and charred 500-year-old trees. The entire center together with their home, rehearsal and art studio were lost. This devastating event “freed” Noor of every tool that he used, all material possession he owned and also every label he identified with up to this point. As he did many times throughout his life, Noor is turning the adversity of the fire into an opportunity to reinvent himself as a human/artist again.  He is currently building an artist retreat center in Portugal to host transformation through storytelling, the arts and the environment. 

@ValadaViva, Noora@noordesign.com