First look at new jewellery brand, Moushe

Nabiha Sabzvari has always been creatively inclined to step out of her own comfort zone and develop new ideas and concepts. In her mid 20s she started to experiment with shoe design as well as wanting to create something within fashion, specifically in accessories. Here is where she was first introduced to jewellery. She started sampling and designing jewellery early last year and entered the field “not knowing much about it or the process of making it”. She was born and brought up in Karachi, Pakistan. In this area of the country, the jewellery market is both affluent and over 100 years old. Having found her husband in the UK, she splits her time between both countries. In Pakistan, jewellery is a huge part of the culture, as either a display of wealth, gifts, or most commonly used in weddings. Sabzvari, who is currently in Karachi explains: “I went into the local gold market area and explored, I wanted to learn the trade and the whole process from beginning to end.” Once her creative juices started flowing in a city that sparkled, she started designing until she decided to develop it further. “It started as a labour of love and it grew from there,” she concludes. How did the brand start? The brand launched earlier this year in June with four collections, ‘Moushe Love, Bee My Honey, Wheel Of Fortune and Sserpentine’. Each collection is unique to both Sabzvari and has a contemporary touch. For example, the Wheel of Fortune collection was inspired by mechanical tools. The brand's name takes its homage from the widely used Iranian term of endearment which Sabzvari notes was based on her husband who has called her that from the beginning of their relationship. “I thought it fit really well within the jewellery world because for me to read about expressing your love I think it is what we are trying to express,” she adds. Last year, once Sabzvari had achieved a strong-enough understanding of how to create the jewellery - learning first hand from a craftsman - she started sampling her designs to see how they would come out. “From a few sample pieces, it developed into a collection,” she says. Each collection took about five to six months to “develop and perfect”. However, some took longer as they had more technical aspects such as the weight and trying to explain to the craftspeople in Karachi “exactly how it should look”, she says. With every business, there are ups and downs, for Sabzvari the impact of the pandemic and supply shortages proved to be a major setback. “We were facing delays in production due to the lockdowns, restricted operational hours, and shortage of supplies. All our associated vendors were also facing the same problems, and this impacted our business to an extent,” she explains. With the UK coming out of Europe, she notes that this has “fortunately not had a direct impact”. The jewellery Sabzvari says that because her designs are unconventional and more fitted towards the “everyday wear” her target customers are mainly based in the UK as well as in the UAE. She notes that due to the jewellery in Pakistan being “very traditional, rich and heavy” it is normally worn on occasions. Moushe jewellery however, is the opposite. It is very light, contemporary and created with a younger audience in mind. The jewellery is made out of 12 carat gold which consists of 50% gold and 50% other metals such as copper, silver and palladium. She says the mix allows the jewellery to be both easily pliable and strong compared with just gold for example. Whilst the jewellery is currently made out of gold, Sabzvari says she would be open to explore other materials such as sterling silver and create pieces out of that for a different kind of audience. She says the silver pieces would be more geared towards customers that are between the ages of 16 to 19. Looking forward With the brand being so new, it currently operates online through their website, yet Sabzvari hopes that in the near future to open a physical store, whether that's in London or Dubai is something that she says she is open to. Thinking more about other collections, she says she is currently working on four new ones which the brand is aiming to launch by December near to Christmas. Offering a glimpse into what it might be, she says it's called ‘Celestial Dreams’ and is heavily inspired by astrological elements such as the moon, stars and the galaxy. “It's very whimsical in its nature, it's very poetic and it's one of my most favourite collections,” she concludes.