Jade Accessories: Jewellery with a Middle Eastern touch

Jade Accessories showcased its latest collection this weekend.

KARACHI:

The label Jade Accessories was introduced by Sana Mahfooz Omar and Leila Mahfooz Barry for the first time at their first exhibition last year. Following three successful exhibitions, the sisters held a fourth one at W Café in Olivetto this weekend. 

“It’s been a year since we launched our label and the response has been phenomenal,” says Leila. “It’s been more and more positive as time has passed by and hopefully, it will be even more by the time we exhibit our next collection.” The idea of Middle Eastern jewellery designs was Sana’s brainchild who is based in Dubai. “Sana thought it was a refreshing idea to bring such designs here to Pakistan, so I decided to join her,” adds Leila, who herself resides in Karachi.



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In the exhibition, three exclusive collections were showcased: Jade Exclusive, Jade Silver and Jade Green Dot. Jade Exclusive consisted of Jade Accessories’ signature items, Jade Silver included pure silver pieces with the incorporation of crystals and the last collection was created for young girls who enjoy wearing trendy jewellery.

This classy Middle Eastern jewellery is handcrafted by women residing in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, informs Leila, adding that the trend of accessorising with such jewellery is picking up. “Being a working mother, you can’t always rush to your locker to grab your jewellery when you need to wear some,” she says, speaking about gold jewellery. “And because of security concerns, we don’t want to wear gold either; this is why the trend of wearing this jewellery [gold-plated, silver] is picking up.”



PHOTOS: PUBLICITY

She feels another issue is the social mindset which is against such items. “People think you are wearing plastic [artificial] jewellery,” she says, adding that this however, is not the case with their collection. The vast list of accessories that Jade has to offer include silver pieces with semi-precious stones, earrings, cocktail rings (bearing the word Allah in Arabic) and charms of good luck with the Hamsa hand — a symbol of protection — on it.



PHOTO: PUBLICITY

Speaking about what has been the most challenging task for Jade Accessories, Leila says, “Dubai, I believe is the hub of regional fashion and keeping up with the new designs it offers, is a task in itself.” When asked what her customers should expect from her next collection, she doesn’t give any hints. “It’s like letting the cat out of the bag and I am certainly not letting you know right now,” she laughs. As far as future plans are concerned, they intend on having a road show in Islamabad and Lahore; there are no plans of opening an exclusive outlet.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2012.            

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