Emirati Jewellery Designer Launches New Brand Inspired by Family and Local Culture

Ruwaya, by Fatima Al Dhaheri, is named after the designer’s grandmother and captures her “strong and beautiful” spirit

Abu Dhabi, October 14, 2015: A new and exclusive luxury jewellery brand created by an Emirati designer who takes her inspiration from her family, Arabic aesthetics and UAE culture was launched today.

The launch event was attended by HH Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, who spoke with Fatima Al Dhaheri about her work.

Ruwaya combines vivid aesthetics with raw beauty, and is unlike any other high-end jewellery brand on the market. Each exquisite, handcrafted piece is totally unique and features precious stones sourced directly by Al Dhaheri from all corners of the globe.

The collection, unveiled today at the Rosewood Hotel Abu Dhabi, merges the timeless art of the jeweller’s craft with contemporary style and bold experimentation.

Ruwaya is named after Al Dhaheri’s grandmother, a strong and beautiful woman, who was very creative. 

“Ruwaya stands for all that my grandmother embodied, but it’s also about all of the strong, bold and beautiful women from this region,” said Al Dhaheri, who is from Abu Dhabi. “We chose a woman’s name because we really wanted to focus on the femininity of the brand.

“Ruwaya is for everyone – Arab women, Western women and women from other cultures as well.  It’s for any woman who wants to feel special and beautiful with the jewellery they are wearing, and for the woman who loves to make a statement.”

The creation of every Ruwaya piece begins with the stone. Al Dhaheri travels the world in search of precious stones that “talk” to her through their energy, their colour and their radiance and then uses each stone’s unique personality to craft her vision. 

As the piece takes shape, the physical attributes of the stone help define the final design. 
Every detail is carefully considered, and evolves organically throughout the creation process, ensuring that each piece has a different personality and a different story to tell. This ensures that each item of jewellery is completely original.

“I’m very proud of the fact each item of jewellery is handmade and truly unique,” said Al Dhaheri. “Ruwaya is not ‘design and produce’ jewellery. It’s very important that each piece is one of a kind so our clients know they are wearing something very special – this is something I believe sets us apart in the industry.”

Before she discovered her true calling in jewellery design, Al Dhaheri, a business graduate from the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT), started working in the banking industry. About 10 years into her banking career, she was asked by her father to join the family’s business, one of which was Amwaj Jewellery, an established retail chain.

Not yet ready to give up her banking career, she took on both jobs, working in the bank during the day and for Amwaj by evening, helping to improve the company’s business operations and processes.  Eventually, her passion for jewellery won out over her desire to work in the corporate world, and she went into the family business full-time.

At this time, Al Dhaheri’s natural creative flair came to the fore and she began to experiment with her own jewellery designs, sketching customised pieces for the company’s clients. Before long her father spotted her potential and suggested she start her own brand.  

Al Dhaheri said: “I started seeing other jewellery designs in catalogues and on display in our shop and I started to imagine the sort of jewellery I would like, and what I thought would appeal to other people.  

“I started to sketch and doodle and I guess that started my own ‘creative process’ that began small and developed into designs I could make into real pieces of my own. It was daunting at first to start my own brand but I felt very passionately that this is what I was meant to be doing, and I think that gave me the confidence.” 

Al Dhaheri’s professional qualifications include Jewellery Essentials, Diamond Grading Lab, Accredited Jewellery Professional and Colored Stones Essentials.