C O L L E C T I O N S

    • HAIR ADORNMENT

      PRESS RELEASE:

      HANAN’S PRACTICE IN JEWELLERY DESIGN IS A BLUR BETWEEN FINE ARTS AND FASHION; INCLUDING THE EXPLORATION OF CULTURAL IDENTITY IN RELATION TO THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE OF SOCIETY. AS A NEO-TRADITIONALIST, HER WORK IS A BRICOLAGE OF HER RESEARCH IN THE FOLLOWING THEMES: HISTORIES AND LUXURIES OF HAIR; MATERIALITY AND IMMATERIALITY; HEIRLOOMS; LUXURY AND COMMERCIALITY. 

    • SHE WAS INSPIRED TO INCORPORATE RUBIES AS FOUND IN HER PERSONAL FAMILIAL HEIRLOOMS, MAKING NEW HEIRLOOMS THAT ALLUDE TO HER OBSESSIONS WITH LUXURY AND HAIR ADORNMENT. HER PROCESSES INCLUDE EPISTOLARY CREATIVE WRITING, COLLABORATION, TRADITIONAL AND CONTEMPORARY WAYS OF DESIGNING, BETWEEN THE ANALOGUE AND TECHNOLOGY, TRADITIONAL JEWELLERY TECHNIQUES AND CONTEMPORARY ONES THAT REQUIRE THE USE OF TECHNOLOGIES LIKE CAD AND CAM. 

    • HANAN SAYS: ‘I ALWAYS SAY THAT I DO NOT FULLY CONFORM TO ANY SOCIETY/CULTURE, RATHER I AM A HUMAN OF THE GLOBE, I BELONG TO A NEO-TRADITIONAL CULTURE, A MANIFESTATION OF NEWNESS; AN EVOLUTION. IT IS A CULTURE TAKEN FROM MULTIPLE DIFFERENT CULTURES AND EXPERIENCES, THINGS THAT MEAN SOMETHING TO ME AND ARE RELEVANT TO MY LIFESTYLE; A BRICOLAGE OF MY CULTURAL IDENTITY AND PLACES I SPEND MY TIME IN. I LOOKED AT HEIRLOOMS, HOW WE CAN LEARN FROM AND THROUGH THEM; UNCOVER NEW MEANINGS, WHAT THEY TELL US ABOUT OUR ANCESTORS, THE EMOTIONS THEY EVOKE, THEIR MATERIALITY AND IMMATERIALITY. I THEN TOOK WHAT WAS EVOCATIVE TO ME AND ADDED OTHER MEANINGFUL ELEMENTS THAT I COULD LEAVE FOR MY FUTURE DESCENDANTS. 

    • I AM OBSESSED WITH HAIR! I BELIEVE THAT IT IS AN EXTENSION OF ONE’S BODY. IF HUMANS IN DIFFERENT CULTURES AND CIVILIZATIONS THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE DECORATED THEIR BODY PARTS WITH ADORNMENTS MADE OUT OF PRECIOUS METALS AND STONES, I ASK WHY IT IS NOT COMMON TO ADORN OUR POTENCY WITH PRECIOUSNESS IN OUR MODERN CONTEMPORARY LIVES? PEOPLE IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY HAVE MADE THIS A PLASTIC-FANATIC, MASS PRODUCED WORLD WHERE HAIR ADORNMENTS HAVE BECOME NON-PRECIOUS, DISPOSABLE AND EASILY REPLACEABLE. THIS APPROACH NEGATES THE IDEA OF PRESERVING SOMETHING FOR THE FUTURE GENERATIONS.’

    • FRANKINCENSE

      PRESS RELEASE:

      ‘DRAWING ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF FRANKINCENSE IN OMANI CULTURE, WHERE IT IS PARTICULARLY APPRECIATED FOR ITS AROMATIC QUALITIES, HANAN EXPLORES MARRIAGE TRADITIONS WITHIN THAT CULTURE. SHE MANIPULATES FRANKINCENSE RESIN AS IF IT WAS GOLD, SHAPING IT TO RESEMBLE A FAMILY HEIRLOOM THAT WAS GIVEN TO HER MOTHER FOR HER MARRIAGE. ANOTHER OF HANAN’S PIECES REINVENTS THE KUMMA, A HEADPIECE ORIGINALLY RESERVED FOR MEN, AS A WEDDING ACCESSORY FOR WOMEN. HANAN’S COLLECTION IS A CHALLENGE TO THE MEANING OF THE DOWRY, FROM ITS MATERIAL WORTH TO ITS SYMBOLISM.’

      INTERPRETATIVE TEXT BY ORIANA VIAUD BA (HONS) CULTURE, CRITICISM AND CURATION. CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS 2020. 

    • HANAN SAYS: ‘THIS COLLECTION COMMUNICATES, EXPLORES AND CHALLENGES MARRIAGE TRADITIONS IN OMANI CULTURE, THROUGH DIFFERENT FORMS OF JEWELLERY. I FIND IT EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO IDENTIFY MYSELF BY MY CULTURAL BACKGROUND YET NOT BE TRAPPED BY ITS TRADITIONS. THIS WAY I AM ABLE TO KEEP SOME OLD, MEANINGFUL AND IMPORTANT TRADITIONS AND MAKE NEW AND IMPROVED ONES. ACCORDING TO OXFORD, ‘NEO TRADITIONAL’ ALLUDES TO THE REVIVAL OF ‘TRADITIONAL METHODS, STYLES AND WAYS OF LIFE, ESPECIALLY WHILE INCORPORATING CONTEMPORARY ELEMENTS OR INFLUENCES’.

       

    • FRANKINCENSE IS A TYPE OF RESIN THAT IS USUALLY USED IN INCENSE AND SCENTS AS IT IS BURNT AT WEDDINGS AS A SIGN OF THE EMERGING OF TWO SOULS AND IS BELIEVED TO STRENGTHEN THE INTUITION AND SPIRITUAL CONNECTION BETWEEN TWO. I DECIDED TO EXPLORE FRANKINCENSE IN JEWELLERY FOR ITS HISTORIC AND CONTEMPORARY CHARACTERISTIC SIMILARITIES TO GOLD; A COMMODITY THAT IS PRESENTED TO A BRIDE AT HER WEDDING AS A COMMODITY FROM HER GROOM. 

      THE BODY’S NATURAL EMITTANCE OF HEAT, WILL HELP THE SCENT OF THE FRANKINCENSE TO SPREAD FROM THE SKIN INTO THE AIR. WHEN PRESENTED AS PART OF THE DOWRY, IT IS PRESENTED FOR ITS SYMBOLIC MEANS RATHER THAN ITS MATERIALISTIC VALUES IN FORMS OF TRADITIONAL JEWELLERY.’