Azza Fahmy is one of Egypt’s best-known designer jewellers and
prominent throughout the Middle East. Her career started in 1969 when
as an apprentice in Cairo’s ancient jewellery quarter she learned
the jewellery making techniques that have been passed down from master
to apprentice over centuries. A Fellowship soon followed to study jewellery
design and manufacturing in London. Here she honed her traditional skills
and learned to combine them with contemporary jewellery making techniques
and design.
Her inspiration stems from classical poetry, old proverbs and colloquial
sayings – derived from the famous poets and philosophers of the
Arab world – as well as her studies of various eras and civilizations
with distinctive jewellery traditions – namely Bedouin, Tribal,
Mogul & Victorian. She then marries these influences with modern
touches to create timeless pieces wearable by today’s most contemporary
women. Each collection is the outcome of years of research and experience.
Her work is brought to a UK based audience for the first time by TygerGlyn.
The pieces selected are from her Limited Edition collections. All Azza
Fahmy’s work is made in Cairo to her exact specifications and
is hand-finished in her own workshop of skilled gold and silversmiths
who still operate under the old hierarchical system introduced by the
Ottomans. They deftly apply to Azza Fahmy’s designs some of the
oldest, most well known and most difficult hand-crafted techniques available,
such as filigree.
The combination of silver and gold in a single piece, the blend of cultures
that provides the inspiration and the art and Arabic calligraphy inscribed
on the jewellery all form the signature trademarks of Azza Fahmy’s
jewellery.