the talk - page 52 Photography & Art Direction by Yousif Abdulsaid / Text by Zeina Al Ayoub Makeup by Claudia Cociobea / Hair by Lee Xiaomei / Asst. Yousif Al Hajji Wardrobe & accessories courtesy of Céline / Jewelry by Aubade Jewelry Duha Al-Ramadhan: a cluster of diamonds, emeralds and pearls in human form With a passion for jewerly since she was a little girl and a background in Industrial Engineering, the Kuwait University graduate worked on what she had always dreamed of achieving. Duha Al-Ramadhan opened Aubade, her jewelry store in Salhiya. From crystals, to pearls, and ivory to diamonds Doha makes sure that every piece displayed in her store is inimitable and absolutely breathtaking. jewelry - interview
Transcript
the talk - page 52
Photography & Art Direction by Yousif Abdulsaid / Text by Zeina Al AyoubMakeup by Claudia Cociobea / Hair by Lee Xiaomei / Asst. Yousif Al HajjiWardrobe & accessories courtesy of Céline / Jewelry by Aubade Jewelry
Duha Al-Ramadhan: a cluster of diamonds, emeralds and pearls in human formWith a passion for jewerly since she was a little girl and a background in Industrial Engineering, the Kuwait University graduate worked on what she had always dreamed of achieving. Duha Al-Ramadhan opened Aubade, her jewelry store in Salhiya. From crystals, to pearls, and ivory to diamonds Doha makes sure that every piece displayed in her store is inimitable and absolutely breathtaking.
jewelry - interview
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fashion - feature
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How did you come up with Aubade Jewelry? Very simple! I love jewelry; I loved it since I was a kid and was obsessed with it. I used to buy all these kits where you could make your own jewelry. While traveling I always seek out these little markets that sell jewelry. Exploring jewelry stores is always a part of my itinerary, if I go to Harrods I am interested in looking at what jewelry they have, and at Barney’s in New York, some go to the shoes section and others to the bags section but I always head straight to the jewelry section and I buy their brands.
I remember once seeing a piece from a designer on Instagram, and I thought, let me email her and see if she can ship it to Kuwait, that’s when the realization hit me, that I was constantly either shopping online or waiting for my next trip abroad to buy pieces that spoke to me. I had a eureka and decided I was going to make it my business to source and sell jewelry brands that I so loved. I pitched the idea to my husband and he was very supportive of my decision and that’s how I opened the boutique. It doesn’t feel like I have a job because I love what I do.
On what basis you select the jewelry designers you have in your store? First of all, they are all very different from what you would usually see, especially here in Kuwait where people would only wear conventional brands such as Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels. People want to own a piece just because it’s a brand, there are pieces that actually look beautiful when you wear them, they hold a certain meaning, sentiment or just stand out and make you feel unique. So that is how I choose the designers I have in my boutique. There are pieces that I personally love, that are very unique and look beautiful when you wear them.
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jewelry - interview
What do you look for in terms of details when you select jewelry pieces from designers?When I first launched the boutique it was more like I wanted a variety, so some brands were all about diamonds and some others were all about stones, but now since I have more experience I look for designers that choose an element and know how to incorporate that one element into their pieces. If a designer has a lot of pearls I will look into that and see what kind of pearls that particular brand uses. I am now trying to incorporate more stone pieces to the displayed collection.
Do you offer customizing services to your clients?What is funny is that most of the times I come up with ideas and say to myself, “this necklace is beautiful, if only it had more diamonds!” and the designers would offer to do these adjustments, yet the designers would introduce that very same customized necklace on Instagram as if it was their own collection.
So, now instead of going back to the designers we do the customizations ourselves. We are very flexible when it comes to tailoring pieces based on the clients’ needs.
What sets you apart from your competitors? I listen to my clients and I provide special orders. Sometimes when you want to buy something from a store, the sales representative may tell you that it is out of stock, but in Aubade Jewerly when you ask for a specific piece that isn’t available in our boutique, we offer to order that piece for you and have it delivered to you.
We simply contact the designers to place that order and make sure that the item is delivered on time. We are very compliant to our customers’ needs and demands, and I think that is what keeps them coming back to us. This kind of services and our keen dedication to our clients sets us apart from other jewelry stores in Kuwait.
