The sense that no matter how big a statement jewellery makes, it doesn’t have to mean ostentatious wealth. Maha works in zircon and semi-precious metals, which makes her work affordable, but in no way compromises the extraordinary effort and craftsmanship that goes in to creating her jewellery. Some of her earring designs involve 1,500 individual stones. They can take a full week to create by hand. To be a child in Lebanon, a woman in modern London, to recover from adversity: it all takes humour, a need not to take oneself too seriously. And one sees this in all her work. The sense of mixing popular culture, wit and tradition is everywhere in Maha’s work. “I love that whole organic look, antique; trying to create something that looks incredibly old but with the edginess of today.” The gothic style is in the mix, and rock’n’roll, and punk, and trees, and romance and leaves and loss, but it all adds up to something striking and unique. Along the way has come growing recognition, from her days as a fashion designer when her suede hand-embroidered shawls were featured at Harrods and at department stores from Beirut to Geneva, and the success of her Victorian-style Rosewater collection of cotton and silk night and beachwear, through to her jewellery collections. The names of those, too, reflect a confluence of influences: Sloane, named in Dubai but inspired by an early London address; SW3, a London postcode; Pub Culture; Ab Fab. So if you ever wondered where Joanna Lumley and Beirut meet, it’s in Maha Lozi’s workshops, where jewellery is not just a function of how you want to look, but everything you’ve been.
