Tariq Riaz
● Computer engineer – University of Arizona
● Living in Abu Dhabi for 11 years
● Gemological Institute of America in San Diego
● Sheikha Salama Foundation
Why Abu Dhabi-heritage based jewelry?
“Because I'm here in Abu Dhabi, two of my daughters are born here, no matter where I go and
live my life. Because I stumbled upon the two reason why I was sent on this planet, I am going
to use something to gift my gift of finding me to the region around me, by doing some research
on the heritage of this region, with interviewing about the older people and do as much
research as possible and incorporate that into my next collection.”
Brand identity
“My jewelry collection took me four years altogether to create, is into two parts, tangible, and
non-tangible. The idea was that one is going to be based on some of the heritage sites that
exist, and I can get the motifs from that. The other part, I call it nostalgic, which is non-tangible.
In my way, nostalgic is something that you cannot go and see, lives only in the story of your
mother, your grandmother, or your grandfather, it doesn't exist where you can go see. You have
to know the culture. This needs to be captured with the same essence in a jewelry collection. So,
I did a lot of research, I met with a lot of people in AlAin, in Ras Alkhaima, and some of these
villages.”
The idea was to create something that is better than Van Cleef, Cartier and all the jewelry
brands that people like to be seen in, with attachment of the absolute tangible and non-tangible
parts of the heritage and blend it in.”
Emirati-heritage collection: Qasr Alhosn, Jahili fort, Jarrah, Khalas date palm, etc.
Examples of tangible and non-tangible Emirati heritage:
● The concept of Sadaqa Jaria means you do something that you pass on (such as food,
water)
− Jarrah, the watering can, a clay pot of water used with the Ghaf wood, that you would
normally in the old days put it in front of your house. There were caravans that would
go off people and if they're thirsty, they would drink the water.
− The palm trees that are planted outside the house will provide people date.
● The belief that a person who finds pearl guarantees his daughter's dowry is going to be
met, his whole survival of the family is going to change.
Enhancing the uniqueness and exclusiveness of Abu Dhabi's cultural heritage
“The only way, that's my own personally research, you can make your heritage relevant to Gen
Z and Gen Y is by giving them dots, they can connect and attach it to what their current lifestyle
is. No matter how many documentary movies we make, no matter what we do, if it's not
relevant, and they cannot connect the dots with their current reality, and what it is today, they
will never be telling stories about it. We have to tie it together, relate to something people can
relate to. It's so unique, that it's like a fingerprint or DNA in certain region.”
Preserving the heritage through digital capacity and technology
“Abu Dhabi Media is an organization that had a really good job with the old transcripts, all
videos, all things, those are like time capsules, they're there. There are history pieces of
preservation digitally, all there. But how can we translate it to technological heritage, and these
testimonials.”
Ex: “Khalas dates collection is my best-selling collection in Puerto Rico, Canada, New York. But
nobody knows it in UAE, nobody has any clue in this region.”
“I did not find a channel or outlet, I'm not a deep pocketed person who's gonna take ads..”
Heritage and innovation
“When the innovation, craftsmanship, the overall pure and clean ideas all come together, you lit
another candle, that is gonna light another candle and other candle another candle.”
“Imagine when you tie innovation with your cultural heritage, then the combination is flame,
petrol fuel. I mean, it's that spark, yeah. And it just automatically brings such a beautiful,
caramelized thing.”
Sustainability in culture and heritage
“I think that I've seen in last five, six years have already been picked up and started being
incorporated into different facets of new construction projects, as well as in my field.”
“I have been contacted enough by enough organizations that they start taking me as someone
who knows plenty in this field. And the way we recycle gold, the way I recycle and use
sustainable metals and alloys. There are two kinds of sustainability for me.
One kind of sustainability is what you do for environment. Sustainable is how can you wear
jewelry that has alloys that are still as expensive, they don't necessarily have to be as expensive
as gold expense.
Sustainability for me is completely different now, how we bring sustainability in the context of
heritage. So it's not only that we're using things that are 100-200 kilometer radius of where we
are, but we are utilizing them not from just overall aesthetics for design, but also being
absolutely, socially morally considerate to bring this where we are.”
Getting recognition in the US
● When he introduced his collection to 5 different big retailers here, they weren’t
convinced enough, and he was asked many questions (who are you/ why are the prices
expensive? What’s so special....).
“These people are business-oriented people, they're not thinking of heritage or value”
● After winning 3 prizes from the American Gem Trade Association Award, he got noticed
here.
“That is when now I get contacted by people here. I'm sitting here, market is here. But I have to
go that way, that if someone else wears Qasr Alhosn, then people here will.”
“All my heritage pieces, which is Qasr Alhosn pieces, my Jarrah pieces I sell the most in Los
Angeles and New York.”
Materials
Gold – comes from the Fair Trade Association
“I buy it in Abu Dhabi golds, but it comes from wherever it comes from.”
Diamonds
“I am Kimberley process of no blood diamonds. It's a very strict process. It must have a history
of where it's coming from and the miners.”
“There are no color stones that are mined in the region. But the motif and the design I have full
control that comes from the region, date trees, GPS satellite images of the region, etc.”
Musaffah and MIZA
● The atelier is in Musaffah, with a plan to move to MIZA, through Sheikha Salama
Foundation.
“I'm gonna have a proper place, because I wanted to show, I want people can come, I cannot
see families and everyday people to come here. That was a hurdle. So that I hope is going to be
solved that way.”
Challenges:
Being treated as a business
“I do a lot of innovation and trial and error. So I buy machines that are going to make liquid
hydrogen, or liquid nitrogen here to fuse it with melting metal to give it textures that has never,
ever been seen in jewelry before. And when I get those machines order, they say no, you cannot
import this machine. Because your business license says you're a jewelry company, and the
machine that you're trying to bring is like biotech kind of industry. So you can’t.”
Equal merit-based opportunities
Tried to participate in Abudhabi’s booth in Venice Biennale, to showcase UAE’s heritage, called
some government offices and departments, but was rejected.
“I wish there was a structure or some department or some organization where I can go and I
say, “This is what I do. If you think that I offer something based on merit only, not who I know,
not what my last name is, or my connections, if you think I bring something of merit that really
stands out, and this region's representation in this area can really be captured in what I do”
Ways of governmental support:
Emirati-partner License
“Every single person who manufacturing jewelry in GCC get a certificate of origin, this is internal
agreement, across GCC where you don't have to pay duty if it's manufactured here. My jewelry
was made in UAE, selling it to the whole world. And they never let me take advantage of that
because they say oh no, you need to have a commercial manufacturing license, where your local
partner needs to be 51% owner of your business, and it's a year and a half of application work in
order for you to get that incentive.”
A strong jewelry-promoting entity has offered that if I move to Dubai, they will give me a
certificate of origins, every single thing, no duty. And they will use it on their platform and tell
people that it’s based there. But I didn’t want to change my story.
Sometimes there are certain departments or organizations that value what you offer. They're
ahead of the curve, and they see it. They're like, Oh, this is gonna be a good addition to our
portfolio overall. But I wish that was here too.”
Funding
“I got jewelry manufacturing honors for three years in a row and beat an Italian manufacturer.
They contacted me and offered me unbelievable Air Italia business class to get in, they wanted
to buy my process, and they were paying 350,000 Euro.
The reward doesn't have to be a certificate or trophy or something like that. And especially an
artist when we're doing things the reward is not dollars and piece that helps. I'm saying I don't
want money. But I realize it now, to run a studio like this with all the staff and the innovation
that we're doing, needs funding and at least some kind of governmental support.”
“if I show you some of the innovations that I have that are sitting on a piece of paper because I
don't have funding,
Connecting heritage entrepreneurs (inclusion of non-locals)
“That is a very, very important thing. I still sometimes feel lonely and there's no cohesive area
where we can do and bounce ideas around. Talk about it. Not just how you can use heritage to
make money but how you can use heritage where there's some kind of platform where all these
different people come together, especially from non-natives/ non-Emirati.
“I would respect this region. Even though my parents and my generations are not born here. I
have a different umbilical cord connection with my creativeness to this region, that will always
be with me, regardless of what happens. And so I might not speak the language or might not
have the Emirati passport, I carry an American passport. But with what I can contribute to the
beautiful mix can be just as important.”
“There should be initiatives that we can be a part of. There should be some events where we
can come in, attend and bounce some ideas around.”
