According to a study, it is noted that seven out of 10 people have entrepreneurial dreams and aspirations but only about two or three of them have the courage to pursue it. Starting your venture is no doubt a thought that leads to sleepless nights and days full of fears but once one overcomes these emotional hurdles, what awaits you is a path of success fueled by your own passion. One such jewellery designer that we met at this year’s BaselWorld is Hanadi Keane. Working at a good position at a multi-national company, Hanadi would make optimum use of her lunch break by researching about pursuing her passion of jewellery making. “I used to work in a multinational company before deciding to switch completely to jewellery design. I had to learn everything about the business from the start. I enrolled for GIA courses and took night classes to learn how to work with the wax and metal to make my designs. Buying jewellery tools was a very challenging and exciting experience for me. I used to go every day during my lunch break to a shop that sold all kind of jewellery tools. I spent hours checking the tools and asking the sales people a bazillion questions about the how to use each one and to create . . . what? It was a lot of fun and very challenging. When I was asked what I was doing, I used to tell the sales person that I am a jewellery designer developing my first jewellery line that one day will be worn by very unique, special, ambitiousand courageous women. The salesman used to laugh, probably thinking I was crazy, telling me that he had never seen someone entering his store not knowing what sheneeded to buy to create a piece of jewellery she had designed,” shares the ace designer.
Design is something that one is born with. It can be honed and polished but the passion for it needs to be innate. Hanadi was also born with strong love for design and jewels. This passion used to rear its pretty head out since her childhood. “It began with a childhood passion for gold and jewels that has endured my entire life. After many years and a wide variety of experiences, I launched my brand in 2009 in Geneva designing and creating jewellery for a very selective private clientele. The big launch at an international level happened this year at BaselWorld 2015,” explains Hanadi.
A designer is incomplete without his/her muse or inspirations and to be constantly inspired to create beautiful collections each season is no easy feat but Hanadi has found the right balance as she is perpetually inspired by life, women and everyday scenic things. “The women of today and their lifestyle inspire me. My inspiration also comes from all the things that touch my life. They can be found in nature, shapes, shadows or monuments – anything that strikes my sense of beauty and proportion. I am very much in contact with everything that surrounds me and I always look at the details of the things that catch my eye. I am always curious to discover what it is about certain things that arouse my sense of wonder. This discovery process takes time and patience, but it is always rewarding.”
These observations of details
play a big part in her designing
process. She uses many
innovative techniques to bring
her imagination to life. When asked to dwell on the unique
techniques, she says, “There is
always something unique in the
way each piece is created. It may
be mathematically oriented, or
a small, simple innovation that
may go unnoticed by the casual
observer. Including certain design
elements can also require extra
time and attention to detail to
execute perfectly, but I don’t
approach designing from this
angle. I usually imagine the
design, draw it and then I start
looking at the mounting process.
Some of the pieces I have created
have needed extensive time and
prototypes to figure out the best
way to mount them without
harming the final look or feel.”
Talking more about the
designing process, she articulates,
“All of my collections are
conceived and created by me
with the help of professional
jewellers who execute my ideas.
I just finished working on one of my new collections that reveals
an extraordinary freshness and a
soft mixture of gold and precious
stones. Conception takes a lot of
time; it starts by processing all my
inspirational images that I have
been collecting subconsciously.
It is amazing how suddenly
those images narrow down into
one specific idea and a design.
When you reach this stage you
know that the concept you’ve
been working on has reached the
point of creation. The best part of
designing is when you wake up
and the idea is clear and neat and
you have no doubt about its future
success.”
When asked to describe the
most unique or difficult jewellery
piece she has created, pat-comesthe-
reply, “The Marquise ring has been quite unique and challenging
to make. It represents beautiful
leaves that have fallen and are
lying peacefully in harmony. I
love the tranquility of this ring,
the dome shape and the way
the leaves have fallen onto each
other. The challenge was in the
way I mounted the ten leaves
together without suffocating them.
Respecting the way each leaf
touches the others was the key
driver that helped me create a
fluid and soft connection between
the individual components of the
ring.”
The Hanadi Keane brand has
come under the spotlight and was
well accepted at the BaselWorld
show in a short span of time.
With cutthroat competition and
endless string of designers coming up, we wondered how did she
manage this success. To this
she explains, “My USP is a real
life story based on the everyday
experiences of real women. My
life is much like that of millions
of women around the world who
aren’t Hollywood stars, jet setters
or household names, but who are
vitally important to the people
around them, whether colleagues,
friends or family. My designs are
inspired by the beauty of everyday
objects and experiences, but are
always created with an intimate
understanding of the need of my
clients for high-quality,
versatile
and beautiful jewellery that serves
a multitude of purposes. Very
few designers have this unique,
personal insight into what these
women – my clients – want to
wear and why. My brand is
important to them because of the
values it represents, but it isn’t
the reason why they wear my
jewellery. That’s important.”