The Desert Blooms is a collection of fine jewellery pieces inspired by the native desert flora of Kuwait. The desert is usually an arid and harsh environment but under the right conditions seeds that have been lying dormant for years grow and blossom all at once creating a magical landscape. For Kuwaitis these desert flowers represent strength, resilience and hope.

Consequently the collection is full of soft curves, sensuous volumes and bright un-tamed colours.

Alsharhan exploits her extensive knowledge of Kuwait’s jewellery history and of the current market seeking to create a new authentic Kuwaiti jewellery culture. One not trapped in the past, respectful history yet focused on the future of this countries now youthful cultural demographic.

This flow and merging of old and new is reflected in the production of the collection, Alsharhan exploring traditional techniques alongside emerging jewellery technologies.

Alsharhan’s passion as a designer is to make fine jewellery for modern women who might appear be calm and peaceful yet blossom to express themselves loudly and unapologetically celebrating all that is good in life.

     Muneera approached Faisal and Ahmad with a simple, yet highly irregular idea – combining creative fields to create an immersive experience for visitors at the debut of her new jewelry line.         

     Having been inspired by images of faraway galaxies and spending hours glancing up at the subtle shimmers of the night sky, Muneera organized her thoughts and fashioned them into exquisite ornaments. Warp away from those months long gone, we now arrive to the debut of “Daughters of the Moon.”

     One hallmark of humanity is its ability to dream and turn those dreams into realities. And so, that intangible feel for space – having it seem so close and yet so far – has inspired countless generations to dream of so much more – to try and glean what it means to be human and what else is truly out there. A further hallmark of humanity is its ability to collaborate and combine various fields to create something truly larger than the sum of its parts.  Both of these monumental feats of humanity were on glorious display during the Space Race of the Cold War era.

     As a result, Muneera’s vision for this jewelry line similarly dreamt a little bigger. She extended an invitation to Faisal and Ahmad to create their individual compositions of ‘space’. Hobbyists in the fields of visual and auditory projects, both Faisal and Ahmad saw this as a unique opportunity to present something simple within a larger framework. By virtue of organizing, sampling and composing footage and audio in their respective fields, they came up with an Audio/Visual component to add (and hopefully not detract) from Muneera’s exhibit.

Jewelry:               Muneera Hamed Alsharhan   

Video:                  Faisal Al-Nashmi                     

Audio:                  Ahmad Jafar, a.k.a. Empty1/4

Photography:      Jalil Marvin                         

This collection is part of the Mukani Series. An on going project where I am discovering my own place in my country, Kuwait. I was inspired by Islamic architecture and objects. I explored by drawing and creating forms that grew organically as I built them.

With their irregular shapes yet straight lines, they are not quite perfect. I feel that these shapes reflect our place in this country.

This jewelry collection is called Domus, a Latin word for one’s home, country or family.

Ag is a collection of fine silver jewelry hand sculpted in wax and casted. I wanted the silver to look like it was melting and some what weightless like liquid mercury floating in space

Sadu: a traditional form of hand weaving art using geometrical shapes. Used by the Nomadic tribes in the gulf countries to weave their tents and furniture. They used sheep and camel wool and dyes derived from desert plants. 

My Little Women is a collection of one of a kind rings made using the lost wax casting technique. Each little woman is made by dripping wax to create the fluid shapes of the Abaya, the black cloak worn by some women in the Middle East.  I wanted the little women to look like little metal pebbles. They would only be reviled if the wearer would point it out and let the person take a closer look. 

Oxidized Sterling Silver. 2012