Transcript
|The Couture Show in Las Vegas is my favourite jewellery show because it’s all about creativity and design, and it’s here that Kuwaiti jewellery house Octium has chosen to unveil its new collection called Twist. Twist takes the idea of the octagon, which is central to Octium’s theme, to new heights, and I caught up with Alanood and Fahad who tell me all about the new inspiration.
Alanood: So it originated from the Octium shape, which is a twisted octagon.
Maria: Now the octagon is quite literally pulled apart, unravelled and rearranged into a new geometry of long, continuous lines that wrap around the finger and along the wrist. Octium was founded by husband and wife team Alanood and Fahad and it is now six years old.
Fahad: It’s not just designing jewellery, it’s the whole concept of a lifestyle approach. Factors like comfort - that’s very important during production and design development.
Alanood: I want to make sure it’s a piece I would want to buy for myself.
This is an exciting moment for Octium, which is presenting its biggest collection ever. The Octium design cues are still here - the faceted angles, the clean simple lines, but with the addition of coloured stones such as blue and white agate, black diamonds, and the stone of the moment, turquoise. Trying the jewels on, I can tell that these were designed by a woman for women because they are so easy to wear - the edges are all soft, everything is gently tapered, but at the same time they’re quite edgy, but not to the extreme that they dominate a look.
Alanood: I want to give women the freedom to pick and choose their jewellery. It’s not just it’s there, this is what you have to buy, that’s it.
You can tell Alanood studied architecture in the clean geometry and also the very sculptural quality of these jewels. Alanood designs each piece herself and these are then sent to Milan where they are made to Octium’s exacting standards.
Fahad: We need to be present at every stage and make sure that this is the right direction and how things are going. And for us this is fun.
Expect to see more of the Twist because Alanood assures me that she has been busy creating new designs, so next stop for us is to go to Italy and see how they are made.
