MAY BENDKI MAMARBACHI  Artscoops, LLP  Co-Founder / CEO

May is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor and art consultant. An avid art collector, she is responsible for managing collector relationships  as well as all financial and legal aspects of the company.

She was the first woman to set up a luxury boutique hotel in Damascus, Beit al-Mamlouka, which opened its doors in 2005. After a few years of running the hotel, she sold it and was ready for her next venture - ”introducing Syria and the region to a new way of travel.”‘ She opened an a-la-carte a track travel agency, Beroia Travel, in February 2008, and managed it until it closed in 2011.

 May was approached by The Victoria & Albert Museum of London to bring a show on World Ceramics to Damascus, which she did in November 2008 for the Damascus Arab Capital of Culture. Soon after, she curated the Let It Be Jewelry Exhibition that brought twenty-one sculptors, designers and architects from across the Middle East to showcase their pieces of work through the Syrian jewelry house Sayegh. The guest of honor was renowned architect Zaha Hadid. The exhibition took place in November 2009 in the Mouawad Museum in Beirut, and then toured different Arab countries.

Having recently moved to Beirut, she was part of the committee involved in Syri-Arts, at the Beirut Exhibition Center from Oct 30th to Nov 8th 2013; a non-profit initiative inviting artists to donate a work of art to be auctioned by Paddle 8 to raise funds for Syrian children. Over $1.1 million dollars were raised.

May Mamarbachi obtained her BA and MA in Islamic Art and Archeology between 1995-1998 from SOAS & Sotheby’s in London.

Artscoops, LLP develops and operates an online platform for buying and selling art. It offers Middle Eastern and North African art; and artworks from galleries and artists from around the world. The company was founded in 2014 and is based in Beirut, Lebanon.