This Lebanese designer uses exquisite gems in jewelry that fuses heritage design with a modern flair for color and form.
As a boy in Beirut, Selim Mouzannar roamed the incense-scented halls of the historic jewelry souk where his family had a workshop. While helping his father there in the afternoons, he recalls seeing shop windows jammed with jewelry crafted in the traditional Falamank style of the Ottoman Empire.
From an early age, he was conflicted about how these designs should influence his own work. Should he bow to this heritage or make a new start? “Finally, I chose a middle way somewhere between tradition and modernity,” says the designer.
After studying mineralogy in France and Belgium, then working with gems and jewelry in Saudi Arabia and Thailand, Mouzannar returned to Beirut to establish his own jewelry brand in 1993. Using his gemologist’s eye, the designer experiments with color and form to create pieces with a luminous personality.
International success
Today Mouzannar has seven international points of sale across New York, Paris, Dubai, Kuwait and Istanbul. He has also participated in high-end jewelry and art exhibitions such as Couture Las Vegas, Paris Fashion Week and Art Basel.
The designer’s Amal necklace won the “Best in Colored Gemstones” category at the Couture Design Awards in 2016 and was named one of “30 breathtaking jewels” by Forbes the same year.
“I have special emotion for the Amal necklace because it was a creative adventure,” says Mouzannar. “I fell in love with a bunch of exceptional trapiche emeralds from the Muzo mine [in Colombia] and I had the idea of a design that would be drawn by the black tinted wheel of the stones,” he says. “The Amal necklace is a message of hope for a united and reconciled humanity, in a world where nature will have reasserted itself.”
Finding joy in nature
Mouzannar highlights nature as his main source of inspiration, describing his personal style as “colorful, poetic and timeless.” He says “we are part of nature and we can’t fight against it. I get inspired by my life; every second we live is a kind of inspiration. Every place we go inspires us.”
Diamonds play a central role in the designer’s lines, with colorless and single cut being a signature. Mouzannar also uses tanzanites, colored sapphires, morganites, aquamarines, rubies, garnets, spinels, emeralds and chrome tourmalines in his creations. “These stones are part of my life,” he says. “I love the internal world of each stone; it’s a unique trip into a magical and intense colored world.”
When it comes to gemstones, Mouzannar says “each color has its own specificities”. He plays with balance, contrast and paradoxes to encourage an emotional response to his work. The designer admits he often chooses stones and colors that he finds “peaceful”.
Hope for the future
Although he respects the traditional techniques he grew up around, Mouzannar rejects the idea that previous generations of jewelers were more skilled. He believes technological advances such as 3D design programs mean today’s designers are producing jewelry that is just as good as, or even superior to, jewelry of the past.
“The rules remain the same: you need to have strong knowledge and experience to be able to offer quality and poetic jewelry,” says Mouzannar. He believes that what’s different now is that there’s more room for emerging brands to be creative. “It was not exactly like this 20 years ago, when major high-end jewelry brands dominated the market.”
His advice to young designers? “Be humble. It is a very demanding job with high expectations,” he says, adding that there’s no easy path.
Mouzannar is stoic about the challenges facing his own business this year. Of Covid-19, he says: “Nature gave a lesson of humility to all humankind and we try to adapt with our resilience and through online platforms”.
As for the blast in Beirut in August in which his assistant and daughter were injured, he is grateful they are out of danger now. “My shop had broken glass but at the end of the day we have to relativize this is just damaged material compared to the innocent people who lost their lives and loved ones. It is really apocalyptic here, our city is devastated but we keep hope that we will get rid of the tyrants ruling our beautiful Lebanon,” he shares.
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