PROFILE

Shaheen’s love affair with diamonds began at an early stage. While growing up acquiring jewellery was a family tradition and Shaheen often recalls spending her time in front of the mirror trying on her mothers jewellery, fashioning her own fairy tales. As time passed Shaheen metamorphosed into a fashion icon. She has been known for her sense of style and features in the style pages of almost all magazines. Being fashion forward she was always ahead of the curve to spot timeless trends. She enjoyed designers whose work was original, fearless and heartbreakingly beautiful and wished to translate a similar sensibility into her design. Jewellery was the perfect place to experiment with her sense of style.

Seeing family heirlooms pass down generations Shaheen was always intrigued by the intricacy of work and the timelessness of each piece. Soon Shaheen had developed an eye for detail. She didn’t just admire a piece she was keen to acquire the technique to produce it. For this she studied at the Gemological Institute of America to further hone her skills. "The difference between an amateur and a professional is the degree to which you understand your tools and your raw material", Shaheen says, "Diamonds were the perfect playground for my imagination. "

Shaheen designs with a philosophy that a girl could feel glamorous and special every day with just the tinge of Shaheen’s personality to add the flavour. “Life is too short to wear boring jewellery”, Shaheen says. And so there is experimentation with colour, cut and casting. “An emerald could take you back to the forest of your imagination, a topaz can remind you of the day you dived into the sea near a coral reef and a ruby can take you back to that special day of love you shared...in a diamond lie the memories of time,” she says.