 Azza
Fahmy
Dream Turned Reality...
“My long journey
with jeweler-making all started with a book…” AF It all started
when Azza Fahmy came across an art book about classical jewellery
of the middle Ages in Europe. The book was in German and cost 17.5
EGP - a fortune at the time- but neither language nor price barriers
stopped her from buying it. Fascinated with the designs of the jewellery,
this book was the light that ignited her inspiration. With a B.A.
in Interior Design, Azza Fahmy had planned to join the Faculty of
Fine Arts to get a second degree in the Applied Arts Department,
she soon discarded this plan in favor for an on the job training
in the field of jewellery design.
She decided to become an apprentice in Khan El Khalili and learn
at the hands of one of the most skilled masters in this craft. "So
I tied my hair back, put on my overalls and spent my days in a workshop
full of men learning the tricks of the jewellery making trade"
It was culturally
and socially unacceptable for a fine arts graduate who held a respectable
job in the government to work as an apprentice in a workshop. Though
she was deemed crazy by colleagues and friends, her goal was crystal
clear for she had found her niche in life. ”My apprenticeship period
in Khan El Khalili stretched for two years I recall with nostalgia
and affection” Azza Fahmy reminisces.
The first time
Fahmy actually handled the tools of the craft, she made a few small
rings that were sold at her first exhibition attended by friends,
journalists and intellectuals. However, in the mid seventies when
the British Council decided to send her on a fellowship to study
jewellery craft in the City of London Polytechnic School Azza saw
her real chance of turning her dream into a reality. There, she
learned the theoretical aspect of what she had practically learned
of the craft. It was an enormous leap forward, and she felt deeply
grateful for the opportunity to learn how to best execute most of
her designs.
Fahmy came
back to Cairo with a wider horizon and greater confidence as a jewellery
maker. By the early eighties, she had set up her own workshop and
employed a team of only two workers.
...Turned
Jewellery
Always searching
for new sources of inspiration and innovation that would shape her
creations, Fahmy began exploring the artistic, intellectual and
cultural history of Islamic design. Combining her research with
her love for architecture, Azza Fahmy began to design one of her
first collections which won her wide appeal and gave instant recognition
to the collection. The collection was titled 'Houses of the Nile'
and was inspired by Nubia and the traditional architecture of Egypt.
It featured jewellery in the shape of small houses gorgeously encrusted
with palm trees or rocks. As one critic wrote at the time, "the
beauty of this collection is that most people never thought of wearing
mud houses ... Azza Fahmy did." Fahmy did not stop there. She
conducted countless hours of research and readings with the desire
to translate one of her other passions, poetry, into jewellery collections
of her own. As a result, her rendition of colloquial poems became
an instant success. Fahmy read the poetry and engraved the verses
on necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings and key chains. This brought
broad and immediate appeal as many people not only chose beautiful,
unique jewellery but the approach seem to satisfy a much needed
cultural requirement as they feasted their souls with meaningful
verses. From that point on, jewellery with inscribed and engraved
verses became Fahmy's signature. Fahmy took this a step further
through her love and passion with traditional jewellery. Her studies
of the various ages and civilizations were the catalyst for the
next turning point in her design career. Fahmy had found the winning
combination; she chose traditional proverbs, had them written with
beautiful calligraphy, inscribed them on silver and laid them with
gold and, so, the Azza Fahmy trademark Culture Collection was born.
She became an instant success; one so strong it would take her through
the next twenty years.
Azza Fahmy continues
to take her passion to new heights. She continues to do her favorite
thing - designing jewellery, researching, being inspired and inspiring
other people through her jewellery. By doing so, she has successfully
transformed the concept of jewellery making from a craft to an art,
and has managed to add a new dimension to the wearing of jewellery.
The
Company
Azza Fahmy started
her journey in the passageways of old Cairo’s Khan El Khalili learning
the craft. Today, forty years later, she is internationally recognized
as the leading jewellery designer of the Arab world and Egypt’s
first designer label.
As the product
and brand grew stronger locally, the potential of international
markets became very apparent and opportunities for expansion started
presenting themselves. Retail expansions started unfolding materializing
in several local outlets, as well as standalone and distribution
outlets in London, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain and Dubai. With such rapid
expansions, Azza Fahmy realized that internal change was vital to
accommodate the growth in the business.
Consequently,
over the past six years the business has gone from being a company
run by an entrepreneur to an established and strategically structured
organization comprising of marketing, sales, design, planning and
quality control departments, supported by strong financial and human
resource teams to enable the company to sustain its product quality
whilst meeting the newly demanded volumes, and to be able to grow
steadily in competitive markets.
Ms. Fahmy is
currently the Chairwoman of the organization and the Chief Designer.
Having once run the business single handedly on every level, she
has now handed over all operations to senior management and directs
most of her attention to design, she leads a team of designers and
model makers, daily training and developing her team to add to the
design house, the heart and soul of the company and, its core competency.
Starting 2006,
Ms. Fatma Ghaly, Ms. Fahmy's daughter took the reigns as Managing
Director's. With a new marketing strategy and company vision, together
with a structured organization, she now has all the elements needed
to drive through the transformation from a small private business
into a globally competitive establishment.
Today, the Studio
& Workshop is located in 6th of October Industrial City; and
employs over 170 people varying between skilled labor, designers,
engineers and marketers. Expansions are happening fast, and the
company looks forward to an even more extensive presence in the
Middle East and Europe, with the US soon to follow.
The
Craftsmanship
Each hand crafted
piece of jewellery is unique, with a special tale behind it. Inspired
by various cultures, each design is a manifestation of a thought
supported by an abundance of research and, an investment of time
which includes a process that comprises the expertise and skills
of a minimum of 20 craftsmen and 60 delicate manufacture and quality
operations. Each piece is a story, from our history to you.
Here are
some of the many things that make each piece so distinctive
Preserving
Tradition
Today at Azza Fahmy, skilled gold and silversmiths still operate
under the ancient ottoman three leveled hierarchy of master/trainer/trainee.
The merit of this system is to pass on the jewellery making craft
from generation to generation, ensuring that the young craftsmen
learn at the hands of the masters with many years expertise. Moreover,
it preserves the magic of the craft and its authenticity.
Filigree
Used as a form of decoration on metals from the earliest times across
many cultures and traced all the way back to the Greeks, filigree
was a very popular and intricate technique of jewellery making during
the Islamic era. The Filigree technique basically entails twisting
very fine threads of silver or gold to form beautiful lace-like
decorations.
Due to its very time consuming nature - it can only be genuinely
done by hand - Filigree was used less and less over the years until
it was scarcely used. Today, even when used, silver thread rather
than gold is employed as it is easier to shape.
Azza Fahmy is amongst the few that still use the authentic Filigree
technique on both silver and gold, making this ancient technique
one of her prominent signatures.
Hand Piercing
Hand-piercing is the technique used to engrave a designed motifs
or a piece calligraphy using a very thin and sharp tool which travels
over the design outline on silver or gold sheets creating holes
to carve out the desired shape. The resultant piece is said to have
"open work".
This technique
brings out the exquisiteness of the designs by giving the pieces
added dimension.
Open work can
be done on both large and very intricate small areas surrounding
a design so that when carved out it creates the artistry of a fusion
of different handwork.
Calligraphy
& Combining Silver and Gold
Inspired by the vibrant contrast between the metals Azza Fahmy has
made the combination gold and silver in a single piece of jewellery
her trademark.
Adding an extra
dimension is the use of traditional proverbs and verses, scripted
in eye-catching calligraphy, inscribed with silver and inlaid with
gold, delivering pieces of jewellery that has brought Azza Fahmy
international recognition.
Article:
Azza Fahmy: Jewels of Araby
Famed Egyptian
jewelry designer Azza Fahmy enters the fashion field via a stunning
collaboration with Scottish sensation Julien Macdonald.
Azza Fahmy belongs
to another place and time. The renowned Egyptian jewelry designer,
who launched her latest collection at London Fashion Week in February
during the Julien Macdonald show, has a gentle manner and an easy
laugh. She exudes self-confidence and style, much like the women
of the Egyptian, Lebanese and Syrian haute bourgeoisie during the
golden '50s and '80s, when the Arab world was rediscovering its
cultural riches, and the future of the Near East seemed to hold
promise of better days to come.
Since her initial
exhibit in Egypt in 1974, Fahmy has risen up the ranks of Jewelry
design to become the country's leading female jewelry designer.
"My first exhibit was at the ministry of culture in Cairo,"
says Fahmy,” and it featured a line inspired by chalices bearing
lace motifs and calligraphy. I turned the chalices into brooches
and earrings".
That debut exhibit
sold out, and Fahmy went on to produce more and more jewelry, gaining
greater renown in Egypt, especially with European expatriates. "I
was often invited by foreign embassies to present my work,"
she says. Since then, her rise has been unstoppable. Fahmy now produces
at least one collection per year, and she's had over 200 exhibits
in various countries over the past 15 years.
When she first
started designing jewelry in the early '70s (after having attended
the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo, and after stints as an interior
designer and later as a book illustrator) Fahmy was one of only
two women practicing the art in Egypt. (The other was Suzanne el
Masri.) "I started at the bottom and worked my way up",
says Fahmy of her two years as an apprentice at Khan al Khalil's
jewelry souk in Cairo. Working in a traditionally male-dominated
sector was never a problem; "The hardest part was being a wife,
a mother and a working woman, all at the same time."
In 1978, after
a number of exhibits, Fahmy received a scholarship from the British
Council to study jewelry craft at the City of London Polytechnic.
In six months, she earned a Master's degree that usually takes two
years to complete.
Her main source
of inspiration, from the beginning, was art. "Some say that
my work is inspired by Islamic art, but it's not that narrow."
Fahmy says. "I am inspired by art in general: contemporary,
Asian, Indian and even crafts. I've been successful because I was
able to mix all of these influences to create something new."
But she is also inspired by books. "I read a lot," Fahmy
says, "and I integrate what I'm reading into my work. For example,
The Prophet by (Lebanese author) Gibran Kahlil Gibran was my source
of inspiration for the Gibran collection." (This collection
remains one of her favorites to date.)
Generally, Fahmy
uses silver and 18 Karat gold as well as precious and semi-precious
stories for her work. And her jewelry has achieved tremendous success
the world over for many reasons, not the least of which is the distinctiveness
of each Azza Fahmy piece. "Each piece is handmade, so no two
pieces are the same, and each one takes about six months to make,"
she says, adding that every creation bears the Azza Fahmy stamp,
which itself was inspired from an emblem once used by Ottoman sultans.
Although she
prefers not to name any of her famous customers, It's no secret
that legendary screen icon Catherine Deneuve, Queen Noor of Jordan
and Jihan Sadat, widow of assassinated Egyptian president Anwar
Sadat, have all been spotted wearing Fahmy's jewelry.
More recently,
Fahmy has turned to fashion as a novel source of inspiration, and
this has resulted in her collaboration with Macdonald. "I've
been keen to work with a designer who has similar values and who
understands the female form," says Fahmy, adding that her newest
line was created especially for his fall/winter 2007 - 08 line,
unveiled last February. "Fashion is the direction I wanted
to take." she says, "and I considered many offers, but
in the end I went with Julien because he best understands the outer
and inner woman, and he's truly interested in the Middle East."
Currently, there
are eight Azza Fahmy stores, all of them in the Middle East: five
in Cairo, one in Alexandria, one in Dubai and one in Jordan. A ninth
store in Bahrain is being refurbished and is scheduled to reopen
this year. The coming years will witness many more store openings
for the designer, including an eponymous boutique scheduled to open
in London in 2008 and which will mark the first step in her European
expansion strategy, Fahmy also has plans to hit the US market, with
the possible opening on an Azza Fahmy boutique in Los Angeles.
Will these ambitious
expansion plans somehow affect the uniqueness of Fahmy's work? Could
she one days start mass producing her jewelry? The designer doesn't
see this happening. "My jewelry is personal - it's as personal
as can be," she says. "I put all my love in the pieces
I create."
Azza Fahmy at work
Marwan
Naaman
►► Some
of the artist's artwork
Contact:
editorial@onefineart.com
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