‘Playful’ is how Dounia Lahlou describes the creative style behind her label Zei Jewels. Established in 2023, the Dubai-based brand is a tribute to the Moroccan designer’s childhood whimsy.
Although Dounia grew up surrounded by jewellery and watch retail, her interests initially lay elsewhere. “I was drawn to design and art. Even as a child, my hobbies were drawing and scrapbooking,” she recalls. Her mother, a pioneering entrepreneur in Dubai’s then male-dominated jewellery scene, opened her first store at 22, retailing international watch and jewellery brands.
As a teenager, Dounia accompanied her mother to trade shows in Basel and Vicenza, but she resisted following in her footsteps.
At university, she studied visual communication and “fell in love with the discipline” before moving to Milan to pursue a degree in interior design at Politecnico di Milano. There, she developed a process-driven, interdisciplinary approach. “I didn’t believe design was just one discipline. It’s a process and a bunch of skills you learn and apply across all fields, whether you’re designing a logo or a building,” she reflects.
Her creative education reached a turning point when she enrolled in one of Europe’s most competitive jewellery programmes, a boot camp-style course that accepts only 20 students a year. “It was the most difficult year of my life,” she adds. “I think I learned more in that one year than I did in my entire education. But I worked with incredible creative directors — from Montblanc to IWC — and it was humbling to be mentored by people at that level.”
After graduating, Dounia interned with Chloé in Milan, working on the metal hardware for the brand’s iconic handbags, before spending a year in Shanghai learning Mandarin.
She eventually returned to Dubai as a creative lead for a start-up, but something was missing. “It was mostly graphic design and a little interior,” she says. “I wanted to do visual merchandising, but in the region, you just implement; you don’t design.” And that wasn’t enough for Dounia.
The decision to explore jewellery design, she recalls, came about when she crafted a pair of earrings for herself, and friends immediately began asking where she had bought them. “Until then, I never thought of joining the industry because I never wanted to be in my mother’s shadow,” she explains. “I wanted to build my own identity.” Her parents backed her on the condition that she would have to figure everything out herself.
Dounia, who describes herself as “a bubbly, dreamy person,” borrowed inspiration from Disney. “When I started designing for Zei, I wanted to put forth that part of my personality: the dreamy, whimsical and fun side of my persona.” This ethos led to interchangeable coloured plates within each jewel, inspired by a childhood watch with a changeable dial. “It was a round watch, and you could open the case and change the dial colour,” she recalls. “When I started the brand, a lot of people on TikTok said, ‘Oh my God! It reminds me of that watch I had as a kid!’ It was nice that people understood my initial inspiration.”
But beneath the playfulness lies rigorous craftsmanship. “There’s one thing I learned from Richemont — quality and craftsmanship are everything,” the designer says. Determined to avoid gimmickry, Dounia sourced materials from her manufacturer in Valenza, Italy, working with ateliers that could bring her technical vision to life. Her debut line, Outer Worlds, is divided into celestial “worlds above” and undersea “worlds below.” Signature pieces such as Celine (moon), Helios (sun), Conk (shell), and Astera (lobster) are rendered in playful forms designed as canvases for her coloured discs.
Zei has been on a roll — informed by Dounia’s Moroccan roots, shaped by her Milanese design education and brightened by her inspirations. Her earrings, bracelets and pendants feature miniature sun, moon, star and constellations, as well as seahorse, corals, jellyfish, and lobster. She offers clients 12 interchangeable colours, allowing them to shift from serene moonlit hues to vibrant coral tones in a single jewel. The backplates are cut out from malachite, lapis lazuli, and mother-of-pearl, among other stones. “People tend to love that they get 12 pieces in one,” she shares.
For Dounia, it’s more than just versatility. “It’s about creating something personal and imaginative,” the designer adds. “It’s really about dreamy storytelling through jewellery.”