Craftsmanship as Cultural Memory: The Making of By Rahina

Craftsmanship is rarely about technique alone. It is something learned over time, carried from one pair of hands to the next through repetition, patience, and care. Before it is seen, it is felt. In the body. In rhythm. In time spent working with material.

This is where By Rahina begins. The practice is less about individual objects and more about the stories they carry, how they are held, shared, and passed on. Grounded in South Arabian heritage, it is shaped by lived experience rather than formal teaching. Dhofar remains a point of return — a place where knowledge is learned through watching, doing, and time spent together.

By Rahina: A Practice Rooted in Heritage

By Rahina was founded by Fatma Al Najjar, a designer whose work naturally moves between heritage, research, and making, without ever forcing a boundary between them. Thinking and doing happen at the same time, shaped by curiosity, close observation, and hands-on experience. Tradition, in her work, is not something studied from afar. It is something lived, absorbed through time, memory, and participation.

This way of working came into public focus in 2023 through Making Their Mark: Women Silversmiths from Oman at the British Museum. The exhibition told a different story about Omani silverwork — not as a lost craft revived, but as a living practice carried forward by women through care, persistence, and everyday making. It brought long-overdue visibility to female authorship that has always existed, even when it went unrecorded.

That same sensibility continues to shape By Rahina today. The work feels intentional and restrained, guided by meaning rather than excess. Craft is not treated as something precious and untouchable, but as something meant to be worn, handled, and lived with — close to the body, and close to the stories it carries.

Dhofar and the Living Line of Transmission

Dhofar sits at the core of By Rahina’s practice. Not as a theme, but as a place where knowledge is learned through presence. Craft here unfolds slowly, through watching, repeating, and working alongside others, until the hands remember what words never needed to explain.

For generations, much of this knowledge has been held by women, carried quietly through daily practice rather than teaching. This understanding shaped By Rahina’s contribution to the Islamic Arts Biennale, where craft was approached through shared making and collective experience.

Participants were invited into the process itself: touching materials, assembling forms, adjusting, and learning as they went. Meaning emerged through participation. What took shape was more than finished jewellery. Dhofari techniques and forms moved through many hands, shifting from memory into use. Nothing was fixed or over-explained. Knowledge continued along its natural path — passed on through making.

Craft Beyond Decoration: Jewellery with Cultural Meaning

In many traditional cultures, jewellery has never existed simply to adorn. It had a role in everyday life. It showed where someone came from, what they believed in, what they carried with them. Pieces were made to be worn often, not saved for special moments. Materials were chosen with intention and forms held meaning long before aesthetics became the primary focus.

By Rahina works within this understanding. Each piece is conceived as an object with narrative weight. Craftsmanship here is slower and more deliberate, guided by respect for inherited knowledge rather than speed or scale.

South Arabian Heritage in Contemporary Design

South Arabian craft traditions, especially those rooted in Dhofar and its surrounding regions, rarely get the attention they deserve in contemporary design. When they do appear, they are often flattened into visual references, separated from the places, people, and everyday practices that gave them meaning.

By Rahina approaches this heritage differently. Instead of copying or reproducing the past, the work translates it — taking time to understand materials, techniques, and forms, then reshaping them for how we live and wear things today. Tradition is not treated as something fixed or fragile, but as something that can move, shift, and continue.

And this isn’t about looking back with nostalgia. It’s about keeping heritage relevant, present, and part of daily life.

Handcrafted Jewellery and the Importance of the Human Hand

At the heart of By Rahina’s practice is a belief that making matters as much as the final form. Hand-worked silver, carefully selected stones, and small-scale production ensure that each piece retains a sense of intimacy and intention.

This way of working shapes how the jewellery is experienced. Each piece carries the time spent making it — the shaping, the adjustments, the decisions taken along the way. It encourages a slower, more attentive relationship with what is worn, where presence matters more than speed.

Because the work happens at a human scale, mass production has no place here. This approach supports a more thoughtful and sustainable way of making, one that allows variation to remain visible. Small irregularities stay as they are — traces of touch that show each piece has passed through human hands.

Jewellery as Storytelling

Symbols play an important role in By Rahina’s work. Drawn from ancient South Arabian scripts and regional traditions, they carry meaning that goes beyond decoration. Traces of early scripts, including Musnad, appear as fragments of language — once carved into stone, now carried in silver and worn close to the body.

When worn, these pieces often spark curiosity. A symbol leads to a question, a detail opens a conversation. Meaning unfolds naturally, through exchange, not explanation. The story doesn’t stop at the design stage. It continues through the wearer and the encounters that follow, allowing each piece to take on new layers over time.

Tradition in a Contemporary Context

While deeply rooted in heritage, By Rahina’s practice remains firmly situated in the present. Clean lines, thoughtful proportions, and considered material choices allow the work to feel current rather than archival. This balance is essential. Craft survives by adapting.

By allowing historical influences to inform, but not dominate the process, By Rahina creates work that moves fluidly between cultures, generations, and personal styles. Pieces are designed for daily wear or layered for occasion, becoming part of lived experience.

Why Craftsmanship Matters Today

Today, when so much is produced quickly and in large quantities, craftsmanship feels increasingly important. It slows things down. It brings focus back to how something is made, not just how it looks. By Rahina reflects this way of thinking. Here, preservation isn’t about freezing the past, but about keeping knowledge in use — through making, wearing, and passing it on.

This philosophy aligns closely with the ethos of Lavish Concepts — a platform built around curation, storytelling, and respect for creative processes that prioritise depth over excess.

Discover By Rahina at Lavish Concepts

By Rahina is curated at Lavish Concepts for its commitment to meaningful craftsmanship, cultural integrity and contemporary relevance. Each piece reflects a considered approach to making, one that values heritage, human skill, and storytelling in equal measure.

Explore By Rahina collection to discover work shaped by memory, grounded in Dhofar, made for the present, and designed to endure.