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<\/p>\n\u2018Playful\u2019 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\u2019s childhood whimsy.<\/p>\n
Although Dounia grew up surrounded by jewellery and watch retail, her interests initially lay elsewhere. \u201cI was drawn to design and art. Even as a child, my hobbies were drawing and scrapbooking,\u201d she recalls. Her mother, a pioneering entrepreneur in Dubai\u2019s then male-dominated jewellery scene, opened her first store at 22, retailing international watch and jewellery brands.<\/p>\n
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As a teenager, Dounia accompanied her mother to trade shows in Basel and Vicenza, but she resisted following in her footsteps.<\/p>\n
At university, she studied visual communication and \u201cfell in love with the discipline\u201d before moving to Milan to pursue a degree in interior design at Politecnico di Milano. There, she developed a process-driven, interdisciplinary approach. \u201cI didn\u2019t believe design was just one discipline. It\u2019s a process and a bunch of skills you learn and apply across all fields, whether you\u2019re designing a logo or a building,\u201d she reflects.<\/p>\n
Her creative education reached a turning point when she enrolled in one of Europe\u2019s most competitive jewellery programmes, a boot camp-style course that accepts only 20 students a year. \u201cIt was the most difficult year of my life,\u201d she adds. \u201cI think I learned more in that one year than I did in my entire education. But I worked with incredible creative directors \u2014 from Montblanc to IWC \u2014 and it was humbling to be mentored by people at that level.\u201d<\/p>\n After graduating, Dounia interned with Chlo\u00e9 in Milan, working on the metal hardware for the brand\u2019s iconic handbags, before spending a year in Shanghai learning Mandarin.<\/p>\n She eventually returned to Dubai as a creative lead for a start-up, but something was missing. \u201cIt was mostly graphic design and a little interior,\u201d she says. \u201cI wanted to do visual merchandising, but in the region, you just implement; you don\u2019t design.\u201d And that wasn\u2019t enough for Dounia.<\/p>\n 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. \u201cUntil then, I never thought of joining the industry because I never wanted to be in my mother\u2019s shadow,\u201d she explains. \u201cI wanted to build my own identity.\u201d Her parents backed her on the condition that she would have to figure everything out herself.<\/p>\n Dounia, who describes herself as \u201ca bubbly, dreamy person,\u201d borrowed inspiration from Disney. \u201cWhen I started designing for Zei, I wanted to put forth that part of my personality: the dreamy, whimsical and fun side of my persona.\u201d This ethos led to interchangeable coloured plates within each jewel, inspired by a childhood watch with a changeable dial. \u201cIt was a round watch, and you could open the case and change the dial colour,\u201d she recalls. \u201cWhen I started the brand, a lot of people on TikTok said, \u2018Oh my God! It reminds me of that watch I had as a kid!\u2019 It was nice that people understood my initial inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n But beneath the playfulness lies rigorous craftsmanship. \u201cThere\u2019s one thing I learned from Richemont \u2014 quality and craftsmanship are everything,\u201d 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<\/em>, <\/em>is divided into celestial \u201cworlds above\u201d and undersea \u201cworlds below.\u201d Signature pieces such as Celine<\/em> (moon), Helios<\/em> (sun), Conk <\/em>(shell), and Astera<\/em> (lobster) are rendered in playful forms designed as canvases for her coloured discs.<\/p>\n Zei has been on a roll \u2014 informed by Dounia\u2019s 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. \u201cPeople tend to love that they get 12 pieces in one,\u201d she shares.<\/p>\n For Dounia, it\u2019s more than just versatility. \u201cIt\u2019s about creating something personal and imaginative,\u201d the designer adds. \u201cIt\u2019s really about dreamy storytelling through jewellery.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018Playful\u2019 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\u2019s childhood whimsy. Although Dounia grew up surrounded by jewellery and watch retail, her interests initially lay elsewhere. \u201cI was drawn to design and art. Even as a child,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":33617,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,104],"tags":[],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-33616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-design","category-features"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gjepc.org\/solitaire\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Zei-Jewels.jpg\")
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