King of diamonds

“Lebanese jewelers’ Achilles’ heel is their lack of creativity and originality,” explains Selim Mouzannar, a leading Lebanese jewelry designer, when asked about the main challenges local designers face. Throughout his career, Mouzannar has challenged this weakness, becoming internationally recognized for his designs, under his own name. Mouzannar comes from a long line of well established jewelers, whose store was the cornerstone of the Jeweler’s Souk in downtown Beirut back in the 1950s. Though he grew up amid the jewelry making business and was exposed to it at an early age, Mouzannar did not intend to become a jeweler. “I ended up doing it because I realized that I had a base in it and I know the business well,” says Mouzannar, explaining how, despite this familial background, he derives satisfaction from having created a name for himself as a jeweler in Lebanon, away from the family business. After having studied