Selim Mouzannar's Exquisite Jewels Echo the Beauty of Old Beirut - Vogue.com
“Beirut is a very old city, rich in history—despite all the chaos, there are still some heavenly and quiet places,” says the jeweler Selim Mouzannar, who was born, grew up, and now resides in that ancient place. If Lebanon seems a million miles from Dover Street Market and Bergdorf Goodman, where his beautiful creations have lately found a home, the exquisite enameling and geometrical patterns of his pieces echo his native land.
“The windows, the arcades, and the balustrades of typical old Beiruti houses are engraved in my memory. I have translated this in my collections; you can physically see them incorporated in my designs,” Mouzannar explains when he’s asked about the abstract rosettes and starbursts that makes his fine jewelry so magical. Art Deco motifs are fired in the firmament of the Middle East; the aromas of the souks and the power of the antique gems he remembers from his childhood endure. He hails from a long line of jewelers dating back to the Ottoman Empire, and he recalls being entranced as a child with the treasure-filled velvet coffers of his grandfather’s house.
Mouzannar finds inspiration everywhere: “On the rooftop of Le Gray hotel, overlooking the sea and the white coast of Mt. Lebanon; from the sunset in the mountain on an ocean of clouds; during an early morning run on the Corniche, the seaside promenade in the Beirut Central District; or sailing to appreciate the sea and the wind and to look at Beirut from another angle.”
If the jewelry, which manages to be both delicate and intense, has a universal resonance, it may be because Mouzannar, though a proud countryman, is also a citizen of the world. He has described himself as a bit of a black sheep—he set off as a young man to study mineralogy in France and Belgium, worked in Saudi Arabia, hunted for stones in the open-air ruby mines of Thailand, and finally headed home to open a shop and launch his own line in 1993. “Returning to Lebanon was a return to the source for me,” he confesses.
But like all true artists, there is never just one source. Influences clash and blend and finally sing in his work, with unlikely but oddly delicious color combinations making common cause: Who says pale gray enamel and rose-cut diamonds can’t be friends with pink gold? And why not wish upon a black diamond star?
