Give us the elevator pitch for BARZAKH.
Aya Ben Amor: On the core of narrative-led design, BARZAKH reimagines jewellery as a medium for the excavation of the human expertise by sculptural kind. Primarily based in Sharjah, we place our work on the pressure level between craftsmanship, sustainability, and avant-garde design.
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The 5 W’s
Who’s BARZAKH for?
ABA: For these with a stressed have to look between the seams, to hunt what lies past the usual. What we create takes into consideration the individuals who join instinctively with the obscure, resonating simply as effectively with the cautious, those who put intention over impression.
What’s BARZAKH’s fundamental message?
Marwan Haredy: That kind is misleading. Reality lives inside what’s stripped again — textured, layered, and fractured. Our course of typically leads us to eroded fragments, the place we seek for contradictions and silver linings within the areas between the cracks. That’s when artwork speaks the place language collapses.
When was BARZAKH created?
MH: We started creating BARZAKH in 2022. Aya comes from a background in trend design, and mine is rooted in artwork and poetry, so a jewellery model felt like a pure convergence of our worlds. It permits us to work on the intersection of fabric and narrative, bringing collectively the intimacy of clothes, the construction of sculpture, and the symbolism of language. It wasn’t till 2024 that we formally launched the model with our debut assortment, Howling By way of the Threshold.
“Reality lives inside what’s stripped again — textured, layered, and fractured.”
The place are individuals carrying BARZAKH?
ABA: The muse of BARZAKH mirrors the instincts of those that gravitate towards it. We’ve discovered that it speaks to individuals from each the artwork and trend worlds — curators, writers, stylists, designers. Whether or not in Sharjah, Dubai, or New York, they’re people who reply to things with that means and weight.
What’s been particularly significant to witness is how many individuals put on BARZAKH as a part of their day by day life. The items aren’t only for particular events; they turn out to be a part of a private ritual. They’re lived with, worn constantly, and infrequently tackle an emotional imprint. This displays our strategy to design: we craft each bit to endure and evolve alongside the wearer. Over time, they tackle the position of up to date heirlooms — not due to custom, however as a result of they quietly root themselves in day by day life.
Why was BARZAKH created?
MH: As a result of one thing was lacking and we felt it. There was a tangible frustration earlier than the model took form, frustration with design that felt disconnected. It left no area for actual pressure, no room for narrative, for contradiction. That restlessness turned the incubator. We needed to create one thing that would scream again.
In an area the place jewellery was beginning to really feel numb, caught in some aesthetic anesthesia — BARZAKH, in a technique or one other, turned an act of refusal. Generally deliberate, typically intuitive. A refusal to separate sentiment from object. A refusal to desert narrative. A refusal to go away the MENA area out of the worldwide avant-garde dialog.
There’s a starvation for manufacturers that don’t compromise between idea, craft, and duty. That starvation exists on each ends — those that put on the work, and people of us who make it. We wish to contribute to it on our phrases, with our language.
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In regards to the Model
Social duty is a key element of BARZAKH’s mission. What are the varied layers concerned on this?
ABA: We constructed BARZAKH on 4 pillars of social duty: sustainability, offsetting, philanthropy, and group. It begins with supplies; we use recycled sterling silver, keep away from overproduction, and work intently with native artisans quite than outsourcing to mass producers. BARZAKH rejects quick consumption by design. Our duty begins with the choice to create cautiously, and solely when it issues.
We additionally take accountability for our footprint, offsetting by planting a tree for each piece offered. However our efforts lengthen past environmental influence. Duty additionally means standing with individuals. We’re getting ready to launch the Oath Ring, a marketing campaign devoted to the Palestinian trigger, the place 100% of earnings will go towards supporting Palestinian youngsters who proceed to undergo beneath unimaginable circumstances.
How does recycled sterling silver examine to plain sterling silver? Had been there any challenges in making this dedication?
MH: Materially, they’re equivalent, however the influence shouldn’t be. Recycled sterling silver permits us to disengage from the extractive cycle of mining, which contributes to deforestation, water and air air pollution, and habitat destruction. Selecting to work completely with recycled silver is a deliberate choice, even when it’s more durable to supply and never as available. For us, it’s non-negotiable.
Every bit is available in a handcrafted field molded from paper pulp. What position does your distinct packaging play within the model id that you simply’re constructing?
ABA: We see the packaging as an extension of the model, an extension of the items themselves, not an afterthought. It’s not simply one thing to deal with the jewellery, however one thing that builds on the expertise of BARZAKH. The materiality of the pulp, its texture, its irregularities — it mirrors the identical uncooked components we convey into the work itself.
We additionally designed it with versatility in thoughts. We intend it to be saved, repurposed, and used — by no means discarded. Just like the items inside, it’s crafted to stay with you.
“In an area the place jewellery was beginning to really feel numb, caught in some aesthetic anesthesia — BARZAKH, in a technique or one other, turned an act of refusal.”
How do you hope individuals really feel when carrying BARZAKH?
ABA: We hope the expertise feels introspective, like reaching inward. We hope the wearer finds consolation inside BARZAKH’s language and a way of confidence in realizing the piece displays who they honestly are.
Due to the way in which we forge the jewellery, by uncooked, satin, or antiqued finishes, each bit continues to evolve with time. A uncooked floor could slowly tackle a refined sheen, an oxidised texture would possibly soften and blur again into the silver. These quiet, unpredictable shifts are proof of the wearer’s personal tempo.
The place do you discover inspiration?
MH: Inspiration for us is fluid. It comes from the tradition round us, the world we transfer by, from the aware psyche, or the unconscious. However what we return to most frequently are remnants, what’s left behind, what survives after rupture, what lingers quietly within the aftermath. That’s the place we discover essentially the most that means. Remnants typically inhabit the in-between, these transitional, undefined states the place issues aren’t absolutely one factor or one other.
Our debut assortment, Howling By way of the Threshold, was constructed round that very thought. It was a translation of the model’s marrow, a metaphysical area suspended between varieties, between states of being. We expanded on that narrative with later items just like the Heirloom Necklace and the State of Transference Ring, the place the in-between turned the central situation. It’s much less about what the items say and extra about what their presence leaves behind.
What’s the most important lesson you’ve discovered since launching BARZAKH?
ABA: Making a model is rarely simply concerning the product. It’s about constructing a whole universe, one thing with a voice, values, and a way of time. A model wants a previous, a gift, and a future. In the event you don’t take the time to form that world absolutely, you find yourself with simply objects — aesthetic property with out emotional or conceptual weight. The extra fastidiously you assemble the inspiration, the extra naturally every thing else falls into place.
Which BARZAKH design do you end up carrying essentially the most?
ABA: I’ve one of many grasp samples of the Metamorphosis Signet Ring on my hand always. Its kind is deliberately contradictory, angular but fluid, assertive but refined, and it enhances the hand in a means that feels each pure and sudden. Since you possibly can put on it in several positions, it’s a kind of designs that retains revealing one thing new over time.
What’s your favourite factor that you simply’ve created with BARZAKH up to now?
MH: Shaping the foundational universe of BARZAKH itself. Designing a chunk is one factor, however constructing an area the place these items belong, the place they converse a shared visible, emotional, and philosophical language, that’s a distinct type of creation solely.
It calls for each aspect of our artistic selves: poetry, design, narrative, texture, rhythm. It’s structure, however inner. Watching that world take form, slowly, intentionally, watching it maintain collectively and make room for extra … that’s the actual reward.
“In the event you don’t take the time to form the world of a model absolutely, you find yourself with simply objects — aesthetic property with out emotional or conceptual weight.”
BARZAKH has already established a worldwide repute, presenting at Milano Jewellery Week and partnering with boutiques worldwide. What does this imply to you? The place on the earth would you prefer to see BARZAKH subsequent?
ABA: It reinforces that there’s an actual urgency and area for manufacturers like BARZAKH, manufacturers that lead with intention. Being stocked alongside established names at boutiques like Komune is extremely humbling, particularly contemplating how younger the model nonetheless is. However greater than validation, it’s a possibility to be in dialogue with different creatives, and to exist in areas that give the work the room it wants to talk.
We’d like to proceed increasing into different cities the place the style, artwork, and conceptual design worlds intersect. Europe appears like a pure subsequent step, however we’re additionally drawn to East Asia, the place BARZAKH’s sensibility might resonate in a really explicit and significant means.
What’s subsequent for BARZAKH?
MH: We’re increasing the contours of what BARZAKH may be, doubling down on the intersection between modern artwork and jewellery. Our upcoming assortment comes with a publication that brings collectively regional and worldwide artists, every responding to the gathering’s narrative in their very own medium. It’s a means of translating the work past object kind, into picture, textual content, gesture — whereas additionally amplifying different voices we consider in.
We’re additionally persevering with to discover the boundaries of jewellery. As we converse, there’s a residing, respiration materials rising quietly in our studio. We’re creating methods to include it into the following part of BARZAKH, as a substitute for leather-based.
