“All of my pieces are close to my heart. It brings me great joy and I can almost feel my soul dancing when I see people wearing them.” When Nessy Ibrahim told us this, we knew that this jewelry designer was extremely passionate about her job. And it is with this passion, coupled with a lot of emotional support that made the sustainable jewelry and accessories brand Fazeena become well-known, amassing a cult following in and around the GCC.
Created by Nessy, as a result of her hard-work together with support from her husband Fazeena is the brainchild of her panache for design and accessories. But Nessy stays on her toes when it comes to her jewelry design and especially the collection releases. “Collections are released whenever I feel inspired to create them. It’s art so it has to come from inspiration.”
But that doesn’t mean that they don’t release new collections to align with certain occasions. Fazeena’s vibe is Nessy’s favorite fashion ethos, “old is gold” and the artist tends to look to the past for inspiration. While telling us this, we pressed for more details, intrigued by the amount of effort and enthusiasm she has with her brand.
Have you always had a flair for design and style?
Design has always been a passion of mine from an early age. It started as early as I can remember, back when I was a child in school. I used to design the accessories of the costumes for all school plays.
I also always loved to recycle any of my family members’ old accessories and take the beads out from old clothes and incorporate them into new designs. I was so good at it that my friends at school or sometimes their moms asked me to recycle their accessories and make something cool out of them.
What type of brands have inspired you in the past?
There have been many brands that inspire my work, but Versace and Gucci are Fazeena’s main two influences.
I’ve always been fascinated by Versace’s patterns and colors. I loved the deep-rooted creativity and uniqueness of their designs. In fact, our design, Glorious Karafetta, is inspired by one of Versace’s pieces.
Gucci has the ability to revamp their old designs, and they generally have a great vintage vibe. I always say “the future is the past”; meaning that eventually all designs will be inspired by the past. Our art collection does exactly that. It’s inspired by vintage paintings, with a little twist. We managed to turn famous paintings and tennis necklaces into something new and creative.
How did Fazeena start, and what obstacles did you have to overcome to get it off the ground?
When I first wanted to start Fazeena, I had to master a few skills before launching the brand so I studied hand-made jewelry, design fundamentals and business and marketing basics.
No one could really see my vision and some even thought I was thinking too big.
But I had someone on my side watching me through the process, somebody who really felt the amount of hard work I had dedicated to chasing my dreams – my husband Dr. Faisal Al-Refaei.
Faisal witnessed my struggles and understood my vision. He decided to become not only my partner in life but also my partner in business. He’s my support system, believes in my ideas with total faith and makes me feel confident and proud of myself in so many ways. For that, I appreciate him so much.
Does Fazeena have a big production team behind it? Walk us through the brand’s everyday goals and responsibilities.
Fazeena’s team is a compilation of some of the best people I’ve ever come across. I consider them my family, friends, and partners in crime.
My business development director Dina is responsible for our day-to-day operations. While I definitely talk too much during our meetings and usually leave her overwhelmed with details, she still surprises me after every meeting with her sharp thinking and fresh ideas.
Nora is our production director. She is the heart and soul of our team. From the initial steps of production until the pieces are packed, everything has to be flawless, and Nora always ensures that is the case with her natural eye for detail.
And last but not least, we have the one and only Youssef, our marketing mastermind and graphic designer. He is behind the designs for Fazeena’s latest T-shirts and bucket hats collection. He’s an out-of-the-box thinker. He keeps up with today’s trends and knows what today’s world needs and desires.
Overall, we’re a unique family and my team is a force of nature. We ensure that our work environment is healthy and innovative. As a matter of fact, we have a workplace wellness program created by Dr. Samar. It aims to enhance the work productivity and performance and overall well being of our team. We strongly believe that our mental and physical health is reflected in our work and we want our work to be exceptional.
What type of materials do you like to work with in order to stay true to your sustainable brand identity?
We like to use the highest quality possible of every material we need for our designs but there’s no specific material we use. Each piece has its own story and its own customized material. Some of the materials we use are gemstones such as opal, turquoise, zircon, and pearl. To stay connected to nature and to affirm high quality, we use farm-grown pearls because of their natural look and higher quality than artificial pearls.
And of course, we use our own secret material which we invented after months of testing in our workshops. We’ve heard many ladies complain about their accessories losing their shine even with delicate care, and this was our main motivation for inventing our material. This material is perfect for day-to-day activities as it doesn’t change its color and is very durable. As for where our pieces are designed, they are designed here in Kuwait in our own workshops.
Any plans for the future of Fazeena?
We’re blessed that many celebrities in the Middle East and GCC wear our pieces and our products are now available in almost all big malls of Kuwait in many stores as well as online apps. But we’re aiming for international recognition as well. We want international celebrities, like Beyoncé or Lady Gaga to wear our pieces.
While I’m here, I’d like to make an announcement that all of our pieces can now be made from gold, diamonds and precious stones upon special request. The sky’s the limit and we won’t stop.
Shop Fazeena’s collection online at www.fazeena.com. Follow them on Instagram @fazeena.q8.
