Beirut Chic: the Designers behind Vanina Jewelry

By: Ehsaan Mesghali

Joanne Hayek and Tatiana Fayad are two young Lebanese women with a passion for fashion. Having officially started in 2007, Vanina Design’s carefully crafted accessories, novelty bags, shoes and clothing have made their way across the Middle East, Japan, and Paris’ prestigious Who’s Next Trade Show. Their various collections are also featured in dozens of retailers, off and online with their work slowly spreading across the globe.

“Inspiration isn’t something that you search for in the same field in which you are playing,” said Hayek and Fayad. “Inspiration in fashion shouldn’t come from fashion itself, but from everything that surrounds it…movies, books, travels, the people we meet, music, and of course our city, Beirut.”

Appropriation is a recurring theme in the Vanina Design collection. Age old monocles and lenses, useless clocks, bits of old jewelry, and their signature vintage Lebanese coins characterize the timelessness of their pieces.

Starting off with old coins in the bazaar, Hayek says these little coins were quite easy to find when they first started out. As their business grew, and others caught on, they worked their way up the hidden under belly of the coin mafia, eventually climbing their way to the top while milking the market dry.

Their underlying theme of recycling has also been carried into a more contemporary understanding of reuse as well. For example, one of their lines makes use of old forgotten CDs.

Joanne says it’s important that people can afford her things, although she does admit they have high end merchandise that attracts a different kind of clientele.

“Since the beginning of our partnership, and even before that, we have shared a very unique kind of creative complicity,” said the duo. “Without having to explain our ideas to one another, we understand each other. It is great to design as a pair, our ideas take shape much faster as we brainstorm and start to materialize our ideas.”

With ongoing projects for “expansion of specific design lines and production” and a new upcoming online store, the duo continues to explore the international market including the US, South America and Asia.

Starting off as a casual hobby between friends, Hayek and Fayad took jewelry-making to the next level as their network expanded from friends to clients. Without a formal business plan or starting capital, their successful business stemmed from the simplicity of passion and friendship.
“We take things day by day, we dream a lot, but we take opportunities as they come,” Hayek and Fayad said.

With dreams of their own ‘proper’ boutique, back orders from almost every vintage boutique in Paris and fashion show requests left and right, it certainly seems like a recipe for success.

Vanina Blog