Selim Mouzannar — Birds of Paradise
Selim Mouzannar — Birds of Paradise
Lebanese-Levantine high jewellery in coloured stones and engraved gold
Birds of Paradise is a signature collection by the Beirut-based jeweller Selim Mouzannar, recognised within the international high-jewellery trade for its synthesis of Ottoman ornament, Art Nouveau line, and Levantine craft tradition. The collection draws on Mouzannar's family heritage as fifth-generation Lebanese jewellers and is hand-fabricated in his Beirut atelier in pink, yellow, and blackened gold, set with rubies, sapphires, emeralds, tourmalines, and diamonds. Pieces are characterised by hand-engraved surfaces, pavé colour-blocking, and the deliberate asymmetry that has become the maison's visual signature.
Designer and atelier
Selim Mouzannar is the fifth generation of a Beirut goldsmithing family whose workshop has operated continuously since the late nineteenth century. After a hiatus during the Lebanese civil war, the studio was re-established in the early 1990s and now produces collections for retail at Bergdorf Goodman, Harrods, Net-a-Porter, Matches, and other international stockists. The atelier maintains in-house engraving, setting, and polishing teams, and Mouzannar himself directs design and stone selection. The Birds of Paradise line sits within his broader catalogue alongside the Beirut, Mille et Une Nuits, and Istanbul collections.
Design language
The Birds of Paradise motif renders the eponymous species in stylised, plumage-led silhouettes — fanned tail feathers, articulated wings, and elongated streamers — translated into rings, earrings, pendants, and brooches. Stones are graded for hue and saturation rather than calibrated to identical sizes, allowing each plumage segment to read as a discrete colour passage. The hand-engraved gold ground, often blackened with rhodium or oxidised finish, recalls Ottoman tombak and the chased-and-engraved surfaces of nineteenth-century Beirut bridal jewellery.
Compositionally the pieces lean asymmetric: a ring may carry the bird's head on one shoulder and the tail flowing across the opposite finger; earrings are frequently mismatched mirror-pairs rather than identical drops. The asymmetry, paired with the layered enamel and engraved field, separates the collection visually from the symmetrical, calibre-set high jewellery of the major Place Vendôme houses.
Materials and stones
Birds of Paradise pieces are typically executed in 18-carat pink gold, with structural elements in yellow gold or oxidised silver-on-gold for tonal contrast. Coloured stones are sourced through Mouzannar's long-standing dealer relationships in Bangkok, Jaipur, and Geneva, with ruby and sapphire frequently dominant. Tsavorite, Paraíba and indicolite tourmaline, mandarin garnet, and fancy-colour sapphire appear in the more elaborate compositions. Diamond pavé is used as a brightening device on engraved gold rather than as a standalone surface, in keeping with the maison's coloured-stone identity.
Place in the trade
Within the contemporary high-jewellery market, Mouzannar occupies a position alongside makers such as Sevan Biçakçi, Lydia Courteille, and Silvia Furmanovich — independent ateliers whose work commands premiums driven by craft hours and design originality rather than maison heritage and marketing scale. Birds of Paradise pieces have been featured in Vogue, Town & Country, and Financial Times How to Spend It, and the collection has appeared in selling exhibitions at the Couture show in Las Vegas. Resale on the secondary market is comparatively thin, as production volumes are small and existing owners tend to retain pieces.
In the trade
For dealers and collectors approaching the collection, the points to verify are the standard ones for independent atelier high jewellery: original maker's mark and engraved signature, accompanying maison documentation, and stone-by-stone provenance where rubies or sapphires warrant origin reporting. Sized and re-finished pieces should retain the engraved ground; over-polished examples lose the hand-chased character that defines the work and should be priced accordingly.