Who Is Alexandra Hakim? The Designer Casting Beirut Into Gold

Alexandra Hakim is a British-Lebanese jewellery designer who built a label out of things other people throw away. She casts spent matchsticks, tomato stems from Beirut market stalls, lengths of khaizaran cane and debris pulled from fishing nets directly into metal, so the object itself becomes the jewel. She launched the label in Beirut in 2016 and now works from Madrid. Coveti carries 74 of her pieces.

Key facts

The matchstick that started it

The origin story is unusually literal. Hakim was a student when she started picking up the spent matches in an ashtray in her studio and wondering what they would look like in gold. Her first collection was built on them: burnt matchsticks cast into metal and hung as earrings and necklaces.

That first idea still runs through the label. Coveti stocks the Original Golden Matches Earrings, the Golden Matches Earrings, the Silver Matches Earrings and the matchstick pendants in gold and silver. A decade on, the burnt match is the piece people still recognise her by.

Her training

Hakim took an Art Foundation at Central Saint Martins in London, which is where she first found she had a hand for jewellery. She followed it with a BFA in Jewellery and Metalsmithing at the Rhode Island School of Design in the United States, specialising in design innovation. That is where the casting process she still uses was worked out.

The combination matters to how the work looks. Central Saint Martins gave her the conceptual habit of starting from an object with a story. RISD gave her the metalwork to actually cast a dried chilli, a piece of cane, a match head without losing the texture that makes it recognisable.

Beirut, and the people she works with

She launched the label in Beirut in 2016 and went straight into a trade that was almost entirely male. Working alongside the city’s goldsmiths and craftsmen, she earned her place through the technical side of the work rather than around it.

The sourcing is genuinely local. She has collected debris from fishing nets with a Lebanese fisherman, worked with farmers, and taken her raw material from market stalls and the country’s polluted coastline. A sea-debris collection set net rubbish against pearls. The point is not decoration, it is that the waste and the jewel are the same object.

What she is known for

• Matchsticks. The founding line, in gold-plated brass and silver, as earrings, pendants and charms.
• Khaizaran. Hoops and cuffs cast from the woven cane of a traditional Lebanese chair. Khaizaran is the Arabic word for that cane.
• The market. Chillies, tomatoes, lemons, strawberries and raspberries, cast from the real fruit.
• Good Karma. Twelve zodiac necklaces and a customisable pendant, with charms and chains to build on.
• Canter. The horseshoe collection, hammered and set with cubic zirconia.

Across all of it the material story is the same: recycled brass finished in a warm 22K gold plate, sterling silver, and stones set into the cast surface rather than on top of it.

Sustainability that is not a marketing layer

Plenty of jewellery brands added a sustainability page after 2020. Hakim started there in 2016, which is the difference worth knowing. Her method produces zero waste because the waste is the input. Casting a spent match and a tomato stem uses an object that had no further life, and the chains are made from recycled brass.

Production is small and by hand. The brand states plainly that every piece is made one at a time and that no two are identical, and it treats the resulting irregularity as part of the design rather than a defect to hide.

Who wears it

Rihanna has worn the jewellery. It has been shot for Vogue Italia and Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, and has appeared in Elle USA, Marie Claire Italia and Madame Figaro.

In practice the customer is someone who wants one piece that starts a conversation rather than a full set that matches. The scale is wearable, the prices sit between 179 and 752 US dollars at Coveti, and the pieces read as sculpture rather than as fine jewellery.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Alexandra Hakim from?

She is British-Lebanese. She founded the label in Beirut in 2016 and now works from Madrid.

What is Alexandra Hakim known for?

Casting found and spent objects directly into metal. Spent matchsticks, khaizaran cane, market fruit and sea debris become earrings, necklaces and cuffs in recycled brass and silver, so each piece is unique and the process wastes nothing.

Where did Alexandra Hakim study?

She took an Art Foundation at Central Saint Martins in London, then a BFA in Jewellery and Metalsmithing at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Has anyone famous worn Alexandra Hakim?

Yes. Rihanna has worn the jewellery, and it has been shot for Vogue Italia and Harper’s Bazaar Arabia and featured in Elle USA, Marie Claire Italia and Madame Figaro.

Is Alexandra Hakim jewellery handmade?

Yes. Every piece is made by hand, one at a time. The brand states that no two pieces are identical and that the organic forms are fundamental to the designs.

Where can I buy Alexandra Hakim jewellery?

Coveti carries 74 pieces with worldwide shipping and guaranteed authenticity. Shop the Alexandra Hakim collection.

Read next

• Alexandra Hakim review: quality, sizing and who it suits
• Is Alexandra Hakim a luxury brand?
• The matchstick earrings that started the label
• Lebanese jewellery designers worth knowing

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.