et Jewelry Designer of the Week: Sandbox

CAIRO –14 August 2017: The founder and designer of Sandbox Suhayla al-Sheikh,launched in 2014. Initially, her first designs were customized orders private clients.

She then decided to launch her own brand 'Sandbox'. Her first collection Sumerian Empire was inspired by the shapes of the Sumerian Empire as they were the first to do geometrical and wheel patterns.

Al-Sheikh wanted the name of her brand to be intimate and personal. Hence she thought of 'Sand' since she was raised in Saudi Arabia and born in Egypt, the two countries are known for their wide beautiful deserts. She chose 'box' because every woman and everyone who loves jewelry owns a jewelry box.



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Her background in design was embedded in her through her mother as she was also a jewelry designer. Other than that, she was always interested in art from an early age; she used to paint, draw and knit. So art was always running through her veins.

Cicatrix her latest collection was created as a contributed to the Ahl Masr Foundation. It was created to empower women who suffer from physical or psychological scars.

“It’s about finding confidence in where you’ve come from and taking your struggles and the pain that left a physical mark on you and turning it into something beautiful,” Sheikh said.



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The idea of the collection was not crafted in two weeks. The idea actually began with stones Sheikh used to collect from the desert when she was young. Hence, Sheikh saw a close connection between the stones and the patterns of scars and stitches.

Sheikh took pictures of the hands of four women with burn scars and created 26 silver pieces accented with gold. “No matter what happens, you can always take something painful and turn it into something beautiful,” Sheikh said. “There’s always a silver lining.”

Sheikh is seen to come internationally as Pandora in the future, but with the addition of knowledge to people. She wants people to see her brand not only as a jewelry brand but also as a brand that is about knowledge. Every piece has knowledge behind it not just an inspiration, but a concept. Plus, her challenge is to bring the conceptual jewelry into the mainstream.



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