Growing up, did you always want to be a jeweller?
Yes, since I was five years old. My family aren’t in the industry, but they always let me be creative. They would let me scribble over the walls in our house and tell me that if I ever made a mistake, it was easy to paint over it. I never wore a matching pair of shoes, always different coloured shoes on each foot. I used to dream of designing my own pair with a pattern that started on one shoe and continued on the other.
My grandmother also used to do a lot of crochet, and I would collect the beads and wires she used to make myself little rings to wear. I hated cooking as a child – I’m still a terrible cook – but my family used to tempt me into the kitchen by letting me make cookies. I’d roll out the dough and stamp it into bracelet shapes, then bake them and wear the cookies as bangles.
How did you get into the jewellery making business?
After school, I realised there wasn’t a jewellery or shoe design course in Lebanon, so I ended up studying graphic design and fine arts at university instead. I’m happy I did, because it led me to the world of advertising. For years I worked in the creative departments of firms like BBDO and Leo Burnett in Dubai, always whilst designing pieces of jewellery for myself and having them made locally, on the side. I finally resigned in 2002 to set up my own business. I came home to Beirut, took a small apartment, and made a part of it into a showroom and workshop. I bought a workshop table and went for it. I’m entirely self-taught.
Back then, the style of gold jewellery women wore in Beirut was very classic. Always for an occasion, kept in the safe at home and never worn casually. Daytime accessories were silver. It just didn’t feel like who I was. I wanted to create something more individual, something that had a story and a soul. So I looked around at the city I loved and was inspired by the tangled mess of electric and telephone cables I saw everywhere, so I made a collection called ‘Organised Chaos’ with wires, based on those shapes. I sold all 24 pieces within three days, just through word of mouth, and that was it. I was able to get myself a little workshop, a small team, and I haven’t looked back.
What inspires you when you’re designing?
I am very inspired by architecture and the places around me, but don’t look at any specific books or references. For me, feelings and stories have forms, shapes, and colours. I’ll be looking at a big metal table or a piece of furniture or a building and get a feeling, which I’ll then turn into a shape with a story behind it.
A lot of my pieces are inspired by memories and personal stories – I always think that memories and beautiful moments can be preserved in a timeless piece of jewellery. Every piece feels like it has its own soul, in a way. I created my Baby Malak collection for my daughter, because she is so bubbly and bright, so it inspired all the round, light, bright shapes.
Does it feel strange when you see other people wearing pieces inspired by your memories, which they then imbue with entirely different memories of their own?
Not at all! I think it’s the best part of my job. The one thing I’ve learned being a jeweller is that no matter what age people are, or background or culture they are from, our experiences of life, our stories, are all quite universal. If I enjoy a piece of jewellery that I’ve made, I want to share it with my clients. There’s so much pleasure in seeing someone relating to your work and enjoying it. If you’re blessed with a talent, you should put it to some service.
If you could travel back in time, what advice would you give your younger self?
To surround yourself with people who know better than you do, especially when you’re starting out in business. I’ve gotten really good at delegating things to people who will do them far better than I could, like social media. It’s not good to try and control everything. Of course, you have to listen to your own instincts, but when there’s a big decision to make, taking everyone’s opinion can be very helpful.
Which of your designs are you most proud of?
I’m so connected to all of my collections. But I’m very happy that I created My Muse after the explosion in Beirut last year. I think it helped me a lot. When you have a lot of pain inside you, a lot of frustration and sadness for the place that you love, it’s good to get it out and it made me feel safer, somehow, to create something solid out of all of the chaos.
The idea of being able to preserve a part of the city’s beauty somehow felt like a healing process. Now, the collection is worn in Naples, Seattle, Dubai, London…all over the world, and that’s a comforting thought to me.
So, what’s next for you?
I’ve just had a curated edit of pieces become available in Liberty London, which is very exciting. Friends keep messaging me to say they’ve seen my jewellery there. I’m also stocked in Dover Street Market, which I love, and the collection there does very well. London is a special place for me – I studied in the UK for a few years as a child and I always think that those years really shaped me. My experiences in the UK are a now a big part of who I am today.
I don’t launch jewellery for the sake of it, but I’m already thinking about my next collection. People always need newness, yet at the same time you can’t rush things and launch something that’s not true to your identity. I’m very happy with what we’re doing at the moment. It’s good.
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