Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

SEE Interviews Moroccan Jewelry Designer Hicham Aguedach P.1


Fri 28 Jan 2022 | 03:34 PM
walid Farouk

Hicham Aguedach studied arts and design, and he received his MA degree. Later on, he became the director of a design unit for one of the most prestigious Moroccan gold and jewelry firms. In addition, he lectured about jewelry designing and forming at the Royal Academy for Traditional Arts.

How did you direct yourself to the arts of pieces of jewelry?

Since my childhood, I had an interest in arts, painting, and fashion, however, I studied physics upon my family’s request.

After concluding my university studies, I decided to study arts and design and having an MA degree in jewelry design from the Royal Academy in Casablanca, then moved to Paris seeking more knowledge.

What were the challenges you faced since you began your career?

One of them was that firms and factories specialized in gold and jewelry depend more on using formats and designs borrowed from international acts, rather than hiring professional local artists. This is could be the toughest problem that designers face.

Moreover, majority of producers in the MENA region release pieces that are based on foreign or folk designs without setting a proper adaptation for those designs to reflect the spirit of the contemporary age, this negatively impacted the displayed products in the market.

On my side, I worked hard to end this issue through my position as an art director for one of the grand local jewelry brands as I pushed them to have several successes in the domestic market. I also managed to change the perspectives of a lot of workers, and producers to believe in the significance of the design, its ability to be developed and improved, and the role of research and arts in that.

Those factors could make an improvement on the levels of marketing, promotion, and sales, alongside releasing different styles that suit several sections of the audience.

What is your work system?

The designer should have a wide cultural background to assist him/her in creating new forms and designs of jewelry, alongside being aware of his/her customers' needs.

I produced a lot of pieces that had rare gemstones especially wedding rings as they are only made from diamonds, but my favorite is the marriage ring I gifted my wife as I used a piece of Columbian emerald which I bought from Paris.

What are your favorite materials?

I like to work with all materials whether precious or not to create unique and various shapes, for example, using certain gemstones or unique and precious pieces of wood in decoration, however, each metal has its own nature and texture, for example, the nature of gold varies from silver. Therefore, the designer should search for the nature of the material he/she needs in terms of techniques, budget, and the demands of the customers.

 

Contributed by Rana Atef