New Arabic Aesthetic

Taking Bedouin artistry into the future is HER ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCESS NOURAH AL FAISAL of Saudi Arabia, an established jeweller who bringing her modern designs from her Paris atelier to Singapore this month.

- YANNI TAN

Who knew one princess would serve a year-long apprenticeship in Paris, just for the love of jewels? That would be Saudi Arabia's HRH Princess Nourah Al Faisal, a great-granddaughter of the late King Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud credited for bringing the country into modernity. Following in her family's footsteps, she too is playing a part in revolutionising the kingdom's traditional Bedouin culture with her fresh, inimitable take on jewellery design.

The princess, as a member of the richest royal family in the world, naturally grew up surrounded by the finest. "I was lucky in that I grew up in a family that appreciated art and design in all its forms, so I was exposed to beautiful objects from quite a young age. We travelled annually so I was also exposed to different cultures and learnt to appreciate the beauty of the diverse design aesthetics I encountered. As for my love of jewellery, I learnt everything I know from my mother."

Serendipitously, it would be the experience of re-designing a pair of her mum's earrings that set her on the path towards entrepreneurship. The English Literature graduate from King Saud University had gone on to study interior design in London, before an opportunity from Paris, the epicentre of jewellery craftsmanship, landed on her lap in the late '90s. "At that point I'd redesigned a couple of pieces for family purely as a hobby. When the workshop saw my sketches, they offered me an apprenticeship and I seized it."