Brands We Love: Local Jewelry Enriched By Heritage

by Alexandra Mansilla

Brands We Love: Local Jewelry Enriched By Heritage

16 Feb 2024

Navigating the wealth of jewelry brands in the Middle East can be overwhelming, given the region's rich abundance. We aim to regularly feature articles about various brands that capture our interest, starting with those boasting a profound heritage. These brands cherish their legacy, carrying it forward through the years and centuries.

HZMER

HZMER celebrates women, reminding every dame that she is a queen deserving of brilliance. The journey began with Jamna R, who relocated to Mumbai from Sind with her fiancé after surviving the 1947 India-Pakistan partition. Within ten years of marriage and after bearing two children, Jamna became a widow.

Facing life alone with two children, Jamna began creating ethnic jewelry in Mumbai. It was a significant challenge for her to demonstrate that women could successfully manage and represent a jewelry business, a rare concept at the time. Breaking societal norms, Jamna later introduced her daughter-in-law, Sunita, into the business in the 1990s, pioneering an all-women workforce, a revolutionary idea in the subcontinent.

Hzmer continues Jamna and Sunita’s legacy, inspiring women to embrace self-love and confidence. Their most notable collection, named BOLD in tribute to Jamna, celebrates her courageous steps in Mumbai during the 1960s, highlighting empowerment and strength. This collection features jewelry crafted from sterling silver, semi-precious stones, and pearls in 18k gold vermeil. If you would like a closer look, you can explore all the jewelry pieces on the brand's or Troyano's websites.

Instagram: @hzmerjewellery

Hzmer Jewelry also embraces an eco-friendly and sustainable approach to luxury by reducing energy consumption, repurposing old materials, reducing plastic use, using recyclable packaging, and creating reusable jewelry.

Samra

Founded in 1941, Samra represents the third generation of family jewelers and has become one of the leading jewelry houses in the Gulf Region. The Samra family has consistently dedicated itself to celebrating the elegance of jewelry with the rarest gemstones.

Instagram: @samrajewellery

Samra's mission is to provide fine jewelry of the highest quality for the confident, conscious and empowered modern woman. Each collection is a testament to this commitment. In "Quwa", featuring rose gold Cuban chains and diamond elements, they invite women to express their inner strength, freedom, and empowerment. Through the "Noor" or "Sukar" collections, their captivating colours encourage every woman to shine brightly. The "Sarab Turath" collection, with its red agate stones, diamonds, and geometric designs, invites expressions of individual essence.

Swayta Sha

Swayta Sha, the designer and founder, was born into a family with a storied history in jewelry making. “I come from quiet the pedigree of artisans in the jewelry industry. From my early days, I was surrounded by gems, jewels, and gold,” she recalls.

Her ancestors, the Bhagwandas family, were renowned jewelers from the 16th century, respected for their expertise in jewelry and finance. Following her father, Madan Mohan Sha's footsteps, Swayta launched her collections in Bahrain in 2017.

Instagram: @swayta_sha

Swayta’s jewelry reflects the strength of character and womanhood. She believes, “Every woman should be able to appreciate herself and her achievements when she looks in the mirror."

The brand is built on four core values: compassion, as each piece is carefully crafted; purity, ensuring all processes from conception to completion are pure; understanding, aiming to grasp the challenges faced by both the team and their female audience; and love, as each jewelry piece is created with affection and symbolises love.

Instagram: @swayta_sha

These values are evident in every Swayta Sha piece — pure, crafted with love, care, and a complete understanding of women.

Sana Al Maktoum Fine Jewelry

Her Highness Sheikha Sana Al Maktoum launched her jewelry brand in 2020 at 21, wishing to continue her grandmother's legacy of entrepreneurship, inner strength, and female empowerment. The debut collection, "My Treasure", features ethically sourced diamonds alongside pink, yellow, or blue sapphires encased in 18-carat white, yellow, or rose gold. Each piece bears the “Sana Al Maktoum” signature, offering a piece of royalty to its owner.

Instagram: @sanaalmaktoumofficial

The collection prominently features the butterfly, a tribute to her grandmother, her greatest inspiration. The butterfly symbolises transformation, reflecting a woman's myriad roles and her constant evolution through life's stages.

Instagram: @sanaalmaktoumofficial

Her Highness's second collection, Talisman, draws inspiration from the 1920s art deco style, a period when women began to gain empowerment and recognition as equals.

The brand's primary mission is to create jewelry that complements women's styles and empowers them with confidence, a goal it consistently achieves.

by Alexandra Mansilla