Jewellery

For the last 30 years I have been buying silver, some old some new. From souks in Oman, sitting on a dusty floor and excitedly sifting through piles of old silver tipped out of sacks, to a tiny workshop at the top of some ancient stone steps in the Khan El Khalil in Cairo. To me, silver is more beautiful than gold, so soft to feel and easy to wear. Yes, you have to polish it, but the joy of transforming a dirty tarnished piece of silver to me is magical!

These are my necklaces made from a variety of stones and silver, also some old amulets and trading beads going back centuries. Most necklaces are unique. All of the new silver beads I use have been handmade in a small family workshop in Cairo, some in Istanbul Turkmenistan and Ethiopia. I also love using the wax cast bronze beads from Ghana which you will see on my website. I will occasionally use gold plated silver. Sometimes, I can repeat designs to order, but you would have to contact me to discuss this. I am also happy to create a unique piece of jewellery for you. Again, you would need to email me so we can discuss the finer details of the design.

  • Zar

  • Scarab

  • Tehuti

  • Nizwa

  • Ammon 1

  • Maliha

  • Habiba

  • Agrippa

  • Aphrodite

  • Antigone

  • Isabella

  • Kimeya

  • Ruby

  • Calliope

  • Ammon 2

  • Amelie

  • Rosa

  • Sawadi

  • Zuwaina

  • Caro

  • Iro

  • Tecmessa

  • Leila

  • Jade

  • Astra

  • Zaina

  • Demelza

  • Cleopatra

  • Nefertiti

  • Ammun

  • Amore

  • Aretha

  • Kimeya 2

  • Ariadne

  • Kaya

A bit about ZAR ceremonies. In the cultures of the Horn of Africa and adjacent regions of the Middle East, Zar (Arabic?, Ethiopian?) is the term for a demon or spirit assumed to possess individuals, mostly women, and to cause discomfort or illness. The so-called zar ritual or zar cult is the practice of exorcising such spirits from the possessed individual.

Zar exorcism has become popular in the contemporary urban culture of Cairo and other major cities of the Islamic world as a form of women-only entertainment. Zar gatherings involve food and musical performances, and they culminate in ecstatic dancing, lasting between three and seven nights. The tanbura, a six-string lyre (6-stringed "bowl-lyre"), is often used in the ritual. Other instruments include the mangour, a leather belt sewn with many goat hooves, and various percussion instruments.