At a time when Selim Mouzannar has just welcomed his first grandson in Lebanon – a country once again beset by war – he reflects on how the company has passed down the generations, and the integral part this has played in the story of his brand.

By Sandrine Merle.

A childhood spent in the jewelers’ souk

Beirut’s historic souks are now but a memory. The bulldozers of real estate developers in the 1980s, followed by the civil war of 2006, took their toll on the former Turkish army stables, with their ancient vaults, large gates and immense aisles lined with stores where visitors once thronged. They were the most popular haunt for visiting foreigners and, during Lebanon’s glory years by pilgrims of all stripes, Christians, Jews and Muslims travelling to Jerusalem and Mecca. This is where Selim’s story began. “I come from a very old family of jewelers: in the 19th century, my family of Greek Christian Byzantine Catholics, originally from Damascus, maintained close relations with the government of the Ottoman Empire, whose currency they minted. In 1860, when an outbreak of violence erupted against the city’s Christian quarter, my great-grandfather and his brother fled to Beirut.” Setting up shop in the former stables, they founded what was to become the souk al-sagha, the jewelers’ souk. The next generation (Selim’s Syrian-born grandfather and great-uncle) opened a store for each of their 5 sons: thus, on the eve of the First World War, out of 100 stores in the jewelers’ souk, 17 belonged to members of the Mouzannar family.

A passion for stones shared by father and son

“In 1949, my father Jacques would go as far as Idar-Oberstein in Germany to buy his stones for a few models that he would then repeat ad infinitum. He was more of a dealer than a gemmologist and designer, which occasionally bothered me. But despite all that, when I wanted to be a journalist, he introduced me to the world of stones. They speak to me… To say that a stone is beautiful because it’s pure seems to me to be incredibly violent; it’s the equivalent of saying that it has no soul. I believe that homogeneity of color and an incredible reflection can also be synthetic. I absolutely adore their inclusions – those indelible tell-tale signs that enable us to recognize them.” As the eldest son of one of these very conservative jeweler families, he was primed to take up the torch… But in 1993 he broke with “the souk culture and heritage” to set up his own workshop, alone. Today, Selim Mouzannar is one of the world’s most talented and admired jewelers. He has around thirty points of sale, including his boutique opened in 1999 in the Achrafieh district. He operates in six countries and employs 35 people.

The start of the sixth generation!

In this photo taken in the late 2010s, Selim stands with his father Jacques and son Namir; the third Mouzannar generation along with the fourth and fifth. The second, a few years later, shows Selim busy in his workshop with his children, Namir and Ranwa. By then, the latter had joined the company, one with a scientific background, the other in hotel marketing. A few years ago, however, Selim assured me that he wasn’t convinced by the idea of passing on knowledge, believing more in the acquired than the innate. “Unlike my father, I never put any pressure on my children, who always saw me working from a distance.” That probably had the opposite effect – much to the amusement of his children. Namir after graduating in mathematics from King’s College, spent a year at the Haute École de Bijouterie, then obtained diplomas in diamonds and colored stones at the GIA. Today, he tests stones, trades them and buys at international fairs. Ranwa, for her part, first cut her teeth in London, working in communications and marketing for the Aman group. Today, based in Paris, she oversees these two strategic sectors for the Selim Mouzannar company, and plays a major role in the company’s international development, in an ultra-competitive context. Despite the ongoing tragedy in Lebanon, she has just given birth to a baby boy. The sixth Mouzannar generation is here!

All the articles of the series dedicated to Selim Mouzannar