Khaizaran: The Lebanese Cane Behind Alexandra Hakim’s Hoops

Khaizaran is the Arabic word for cane, the woven rattan used in the seat of a traditional Lebanese chair. It is the kind of thing you stop seeing because it is everywhere: in a grandmother’s kitchen, on a balcony, outside a Beirut cafe. Alexandra Hakim casts it into gold, and it has become one of her signature lines.

Key facts

What khaizaran actually is

Khaizaran is cane, the rattan that gets woven into chair seats. In Lebanon that chair is a fixture of domestic life, the sort of furniture that outlives the people who bought it and sits on balconies and in kitchens for decades.

That ordinariness is the point. The line is not about rattan as a luxury material, it is about a pattern so familiar in Lebanese homes that nobody looks at it any more. Cast in gold, the weave becomes something you have to look at.

The pieces

• Golden Khaizaran Hoops, 364 US dollars. The signature. Mid-size hoops with the cane weave running around the face.
• Large Gold Khaizaran Hoops, 364 US dollars. The bigger version.
• Golden Khaizaran Small Hoops, 285 US dollars. The daily pair and the best entry point to the label.
• Black Khaizaran Bee Hoops, 311 US dollars. A darkened finish with a bee detail.
• Large Gold Khaizaran Cuff, 521 US dollars. The weave wrapped around the wrist, open so it slides on.

Why the weave works as jewellery

Woven texture does something specific in metal: it catches light at a dozen small angles rather than one large one, so the piece reads as alive even in flat indoor lighting. A plain polished hoop needs a light source. A cast weave makes its own.

It also gives the pieces a surface that hides daily wear well. Small scratches disappear into the texture instead of showing across a mirror finish, which is a practical advantage for something you wear often.

How to wear them

The small hoops are the most useful thing in the collection. At that scale the weave reads as detail rather than statement, so they carry a white shirt and tailored trousers to the office without looking like an occasion.

The large hoops and the cuff want more space. Wear the cuff on a bare arm with a sleeveless top, and skip the earrings that day, since both pieces are carrying texture.

The wider idea

Khaizaran sits alongside the matchsticks and the market fruit as one of the lines where the object is Lebanese and domestic rather than precious.

Read together they amount to a portrait of a place: what people burn, what they eat, what they sit on. That is a more interesting basis for a jewellery collection than a mood board, and it is why the work holds up.

Why the chair matters

A khaizaran chair is the most ordinary object in a Lebanese home. Woven cane seat, wooden frame, on a balcony and around a kitchen table, usually older than the person sitting on it.

Casting its seat in gold does something specific: it takes the least remarkable thing in the room and makes it the thing you look at. That is the same argument the matchsticks make, transferred from a burnt match to a piece of furniture, and it is why the two lines belong together.

Which finish to choose

• Gold plate. The default and the most flattering. The weave catches light at many small angles so the piece looks alive even indoors.
• Darkened and oxidised. The Black Khaizaran Bee Hoops push the contrast harder, so the weave reads as pattern rather than as shine. Better with navy and grey.

If you wear a lot of black, the darkened finish is the more interesting choice. If your wardrobe runs to cream, camel and white, take the gold.

Sizing the hoops

Three scales, and the difference is genuinely practical rather than cosmetic.

The small hoops at 285 US dollars sit close to the lobe and do not swing, which is what makes them the daily pair. The standard hoops at 364 are the signature size and the one most people picture. The large hoops move when you move, so they need hair back.

Frequently asked questions

What does khaizaran mean?

Khaizaran is the Arabic word for cane, specifically the woven rattan used in the seats of traditional Lebanese chairs.

What are Alexandra Hakim khaizaran hoops made from?

Cane weave cast into recycled brass and finished in 22K gold plate, with darkened and oxidised finishes on some styles.

How much are the khaizaran hoops?

At Coveti the khaizaran pieces run from 285 US dollars for the small hoops to 521 for the Large Gold Khaizaran Cuff.

Which khaizaran piece should I buy first?

The Golden Khaizaran Small Hoops at 285 US dollars. They are the most wearable scale and the clearest introduction to the label.

Is the cane real in the finished piece?

No. The cane is used to make the cast, so what you wear is solid metal carrying the exact texture of the woven original.

What is a khaizaran chair?

A traditional Lebanese chair with a woven cane seat, found in homes, on balconies and outside cafes across the country. Alexandra Hakim casts that woven seat into metal.

Which khaizaran finish should I choose?

Gold plate suits cream, camel and white wardrobes and catches light well. The darkened and oxidised finishes read as pattern rather than shine, which works better with navy, grey and black.

Read next

• Who is Alexandra Hakim?
• The matchstick earrings
• Lebanese jewellery designers
• The Alexandra Hakim edit

Sources

• Alexandra Hakim, About the designer
• Alexandra Hakim, Jewellery care
• Arab News, Lebanese designer using natural resources to make jewelry
• FashionUnited, Career Q and A with Alexandra Hakim

Prices and stock are as listed on Coveti at the time of writing and change with availability.

Written by Gemma Deeks, Fashion Editor at Coveti.