Dubai: Dubai-based Maha Al Sibai, 53, was born in what she describes as a “city of love, jasmine, poems and stories”. The Damascus of the yesteryears.
She came to the UAE as a young girl along with her father, a former diplomat, 40 years ago. Having travelled around the world with her family, she pursued computer science in Ajman College, as it seemed to be the done thing at the time.
“I did well no doubt, but computer science was not my cup of tea. The certification I obtained on completing my course remains in my closet,” she confesses, adding that her childhood influences had long nurtured an inherently creative mind.
Also read
- Watch: The story of the secret restaurant hidden in Dubai's Al Quoz, going viral on Instagram for its weekend-special barbecue brisket
- Watch: Top Dubai belly dancer gets candid about her UAE success story, bouts of anorexia and depression earlier
- Watch: Why a Chinese banker in Dubai became an etiquette coach
- How an Emirati mother and ex-cop inspires people around her following surgery and therapy
“Even as a little girl, I loved to sing, paint and do sculptures. My mother and my aunts were artists, so I possibly had it in my DNA. But I never dreamt that I would one day make jewellery - no one in my family had ever ventured into this field,” she says.
The breakthrough came in the year 2001 when Maha emerged as the Middle East winner in a World Gold Council jewellery design competition in which she had sent her entry for a lark.
“I was used to displaying, even selling, my paintings at various exhibitions. I had even won a few international awards for my works. But a jewellery design contest win was different, it was very special. It marked the beginning of a new chapter that was waiting to unfold in my life,” she points out.
A mum of three children, it was not easy for Maha to storm a predominantly male bastion. “Initially, I felt I was in the wrong place, I had no formal background in jewellery design or trade and I was the only female in the field at the time. But I decided to take on the challenge and first educate myself about the industry. I began to study the subject, went into the minutest details, attended conferences and events, met people and networked with them. In due course, I gained the necessary knowledge and confidence. Working with big international companies made things easier,” she recounts.
Keen to innovate, she constantly tried to upgrade her skills and even gained academic certifications in gemstone science and the evaluation and classification of diamonds from the Belgian Diamond High Council HRD.
“I also studied metalwork, jewellery design and digital fabrication,” she says.
Maha’s first art pieces, under the name ‘The Royal Collection’, were launched in 2007. Soon, she opened her own store, Maha Al Sibai, on Al Wasl Road, which moved to Wafi Mall in 2012.
Not your typical jewellery showroom, the boutique prides itself with thought-provoking pieces with a telling story behind them.
In Maha’s 2017 ‘Damascene Jasmine’ collection, for example, she draws on her memories of old Damascus. “Girls used to adorn their hair with jasmine and wear the flowers as bracelets and necklaces, so I wanted to revive the tradition in this collection,” she explains.
“The attempt was to bring back to life the beautiful memories of the city’s houses and alleys in a piece of jewellery that could connect you to the essence of nature and the scent of jasmine. I used a technique to encrust the Mother of Pearl with gold and diamonds to offer a design that signified ancient Damascus,” she adds.
Inspired by the ‘Damascene Jasmine’ line, she came up with the ‘Jasmine Story’ in 2020 to continue her fairytale.
“Green, the main color used in this collection, symbolises rebirth and prosperity and attempts to embrace the vegetation cover in general and Damascene jasmines in particular. This collection consists of pieces entirely crafted from materials that originated in Damascus, making each a unique story to be told, lived and experienced.”
Maha goes to great lengths to explain the stories behind all her collections.
The ‘Female of Light’, inspired by Najat Makki’s masterpieces, which highlight two sides of a woman, her ability to face the hardships of life and yet remain captive to childhood memories; the ‘Earth Madness’ which celebrates the uncoloured and assymetrical stones of the Earth to symbolise how art can emerge even from chaos; the ‘Midnight’s Moon’ which was a post-pandemic creation that put the spotlight on the darkness of the COVID-19 years and the light that subsequently shone forth; the ‘Asala’ collection which she created as a token of love for the UAE on its 50th anniversary; and so on.
Maha, who counts many celebrities and prominent personalities as her customers, feels she is privileged to be able to give expression to her feelings through her jewellery.
“We artists are lucky to express ourselves in a unique way through our works,” she says, thankful that she could find her true calling, despite being a computer science student.
