Preserving Tradition

Azza Fahmy Jewellery Designer

"I have always seen challenges as opportunities and from my point of view, these would have been same, for anyone building  a business, irrespective of gender with the exception of juggling the raising of a family".

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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, 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 favour for an on-the-job training in the field of jewellery design.

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. Yet, Fahmy decided to become an apprentice in Khan El Khalili and learn at the hands of one of the most skilled masters in this craft. 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, Fahmy 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.

She 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. Today, Fahmy is considered as one of Arab world’s most influential jewellery designers. Credited for exporting Egyptian designs to an international audience, Fahmy is a champion of her nation’s history and relies heavily on the heritage to create her breath-taking pieces of jewellery. One of her most famous collections, the Pharaonic Collection, has been credited with redefining ancient Egyptian jewellery for a modern world.