Ruwaya: Jewel Saga from Arabia

Every jewellery designer is trying to tell a story through his or her creations. Their inspirations vary from person to person. However, some designers have distinct flavor in their designs that tells a tale. Fatima Al Dhaeri, the founder of Ruwaya, is one such designer who takes the natural beauty of precious stones and transforms them into glittering pieces that capture the imagination of the exotic sights, sounds, smells and traditions of Arabia.

Named after Fatima’s great grandmother, a strong and smart woman, Ruwaya is an old Arabic name with two beautiful meanings. The first, “to quench a thirst”, alludes to the feeling of finding something truly beautiful encapsulated into a piece of fine jewellery, while the second, “story-telling”, speaks to the rich heritage of Arabic lore that Fatima distills into her breathtaking, wearable works of art.

From her early years of life, Fatima worked with her father at his renowned fine jewellery brand ‘Amwaj’, where she began her journey creating one-off pieces. Later, moving on to study at the Gemmological Institute of America.

There is nothing quite like the way in which Ruwaya’s pieces is crafted. Using only the finest 18k gold, many of the pieces consist of sliced diamonds, which are delicately bound together and layered. Working closely with white pavé diamonds, each piece echoes the stories behind them. Using only the finest stones, ethically sourced from fabled locales like Kashmir, Ceylon and Burma, Fatima treats the sapphires,  rubies, diamonds and amethysts with a light hand, choosing them according to their energy and allowing their raw, natural beauty to determine the look of the final pieces in order to maximise the inner light and fire.

Her three ready-to-wear collections - Dujaan, Marari and Nayra - set in the finest 18-karat rose, yellow and white gold, bewitch with their dramatic and organic lines, and offer a sparkling selection of covetable pieces that stretch from dazzling show pieces to more understated pieces designed to be worn every day.

Dujaan is Ruwaya’s most prestigious collection of statement pieces, inspired by the Arabic word for a deluge of rain, reflected by the generously sized sapphires that are at the heart of these dramatic, high-end creations. Within the collection of extraordinary rings and bracelets, sit three smaller stories within the Dujaan family, all inspired by Fatima’s remarkable world.

Inspired by the long chains, called marari, worn over the full-length abayas of Middle Eastern women, including Fatima’s great-grandmother, Ruwaya, the Marari collection is a symbol of everlasting love. Blue and pink sapphires, brown diamonds and South Sea pearls take a starring role in dramatically long necklaces and coordinating earrings and rings, in which every sinuous link and stone is hand crafted.

Dainty little sapphires are the focus of the Nayra collection, Ruwaya’s more accessible offering, inspired by the word’s Arabic translation: ‘soft light’. Serpentine lines are adorned with pavé white diamonds, while pink, blush and yellow sapphires appear in elegantly understated pieces, all designed with simplicity and everyday wear in mind as a more delicate take on Ruwaya’s dramatic signature look seen in the Dujaan collection.