DUBAI: Danya Jabre has reached a stage in her life where she can look back and tell herself that she has done it all. But she has now settled enjoying what she loves most.
A mother, grandmother, and entrepreneur, Jabre fled her native Lebanon following the Israeli invasion in 1982, making her way to England first, and since living in the US, Canada, and France.
Along with her background in graphic design, all of her experiences and travels feed in one way or another into her fun and quirky fine-jewelry brand, The Twist.
“All my life, I used to plan things. They start and they fall apart,” she tells Arab News. But The Twist, which she started in 2014, looks like it’s here to stay.
Jabre’s fascination with jewelry began at an early age. Her mother returned from a trip to Hong Kong with a book on precious stones and their properties, she says: “I was nine! Why would a nine-year-old be interested in reading about a stone?”
But her mother also brought back some rough stones, which instantly sparked a desire in Jabre to hold and examine them, particularly in natural light.
Another distinct memory she shares is of her time spent in London’s punk scene of the 1980s, buying zipper earrings from King’s Road — a center of youth culture that she found fascinating.
The Twist’s first designs, set in gold and silver, were inspired by emojis that had become widely popular through Blackberry Messenger chats — a thing of the past. It was this collection…
