It was a celebration of women in all their glory at Desert Designs in Alkhobar last week. The beautiful home decor store and art house hosted the launch of jewelry lines by two enterprising young women, Tas Jewels by Abeer Suria and Hemari Jewels by Rahzia Hemani, giving the guests exclusive access to purchase from the new collections before they are sold in the store.

Also presenting their labors of love were abaya designer Shaista Quraishi and photographer Tasneem Dahduli.

The event began with an inspiring talk on the empowerment of women entrepreneurs by Maya Taylor, a management consultant and trainer.

“What is success?”, asked Maya to a motley audience of about 80 women.

“Each one of us have our own goals and ambitions and once we reach them we can say we have attained success,” she said.

“What kind of traits do successful people have? According to research done by psychologists in Columbia University, success is not based on ability but it’s more about attitude, the attitude of ‘yes I can do it but maybe I cannot do it now’,” Maya said.

She said men and women have different definitions of success. “Apart from being successful, women want to be appreciated too. They want to be able to say ‘I am successful and valued’. We do not have to act like a man to be successful in a man’s world, but we can take a few lessons from them.”

She said a confident body language plays an important role in conducting our interactions with others.

Qamar Ahmed, owner of Desert Designs, in her talk emphasized on the power of passion.

“Each one of us have it in us to do something — be it writing, poetry, entertaining, painting, making a business or just sitting on the couch,” she said to laughter from the audience. “The main thing is to be passionate about what you believe in and after that to be hard working, and last but not the least, to be grateful.”

“Do not fear, do what you like and enjoy what you do,” she said.

Abeer Suria who launched her jewelry line said: “My latest collection is focused on my new stacking bracelets in sparkling gemstones and shiny metallics.”

Abeer uses sterling silver with 18k gold, rose gold or rhodium plating and her gemstones are sourced from all over the world. “I go to Turkey several times in a year to develop my new collection where skilled artisans handcraft each piece,” she said.

Rahzia of Hemari Jewelers, who launched her exclusive line of Tasbih (prayer beads) at Desert Designs, has been specializing in custom/designer jewelry for 10 years now. She started jewelry designing in Houston, the USA, in 2004 as a hobby, helping out friends who wanted her advice with their engagement and wedding rings.

“We design custom, modern and ethnic jewelry including rings, necklaces, earrings, sets, prayer beads, solitaire fine jewelry and high-end watches,” she said.

Rahzia, who is a natural born Canadian, raised in Houston, moved to Ras Tanura three years ago. Her parents are Pakistani.

Another enterprising woman, Shaista Quraishi, was presenting her abayas at the launch party. Shaista is based in Alkhobar, and has stocked her abayas at various fashion houses here, in addition to a store in Bahrain where they are sold currently.

Shaista, who is a data analyst by profession, launched her self-titled brand of abayas in an online store in December last year.

“When I came here 10 years ago, I wanted to keep myself busy and do something progressive. Also back then I didn’t like the abayas in Saudi Arabia. So I made my own abayas and very soon, friends started asking and people would stop me at the mall to ask about my abayas. That’s when I started designing on a bigger scale,” she said.

Shaista draws up the designs on paper, purchases the material and accessories here and then ships them to her home country Pakistan where she has a workshop, in which all stitching and embroidery takes place. “We have developed a proper system, there is cataloguing. The beauty of it is that it is all exclusive, no two pieces are the same,” she said.

Shaista takes inspiration from everything around her and a lot of her motifs come from her own mood and personality.

She said she works from home and “enjoys her space.”

Asked if she plans to retail her abayas in Pakistan, the designer says she has thought about it and wants to take it ‘step by step.’

Photographer Tasneem Duli was also exhibiting her collection of food photographs at the ladies bazaar. Originally a nutritionist, Tasneem’s photography is inspired by years of traveling and exposure to different cultures and personalities. She specializes in special events and business photography and portraits.

Overall, it was an evening filled with fashion, glamor, laughter and more importantly, inspiration, making it one to remember for days to come.

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