Crafting your Brand, featuring Nadine Kanso

[MUSIC PLAYING] Good morning! Welcome. Hello. Welcome. We are. We'll forget that, first of all. What? I am Misha. And I am Ness. And together we are. That's true. I'm ready to do it. But, but we are so excited. I think today is the most exciting day. Because yes, we have. I love our besties. Besties, besties, besties. Nadi. And so-- Actually, Bella. So much. So much. How are you? Good. End you, ladies. You know, I love you. I know. So I mean, I love you too. You are so bloody busy that we actually have to interview you so that I get to see you. Language, Timothy. Sorry. Timothy, OK. But, I mean, it's not hard. Anyway. Hi. Hi, Ness. Hi. Never mind. I'm so-- I mean, how are-- Listen, listen. We have a better way. Wait, wait. This is not going to be fighting over Nadi. Yes. Just what they do now. Exactly. I know. I mean, we are of stealing things. I don't think that she's going to leave with anything. Well, I don't know anyone that doesn't know. But before we let Nadine introduce herself, Nadine is probably one of the most famous people in the United Arab Emirates. Thank you. Well respected. Well respected. Well loved, deservedly so. Very well respected. And we actually are very thankful, Ness and I, because it was through Nadine that we miss. Ta-da. This is a very-- This is a very-- Big reveal. Big reveal. Look what you created this month. That's a month's-- [LAUGHTER] Run, jump from the beginning. No, exactly. So Nadine, in your own world, can you tell us who is Nadine? Nadine is your friend? Yes. The start one. I'm friend, money. What do you mean? Well, love you, my friend. No, no, no, no. You're so ridiculous. How did you love? Like how well loved you are. How well loved you. Deservedly so. Deservedly so. Because you're nice to everyone as well, even though I don't think you should think. Yeah. Well, I'm bigger. Sometimes you don't deserve my niceness, that's what you're right. But I'm a jewelry designer, photographer, artist. I started my brand almost 18 years ago. She was only 20. Yes, exactly. I'm now only 25. That's what you're thinking. What you're just thinking, yeah. So yeah, back, well, I've lived in Dubai for 23 years. And I know how much you love the U.N. I know how much I love the U.N. You're a hot sister. I'm a big fan. Not fan is-- it's home, actually. And I love it. And I feel very welcomed. I feel well. I created my business here. My kids grew up here. And I think I'm retired here. Great. But of course-- So it is home. I mean, when you think of it out of me, or you think of Nadine, that's so intrinsically linked. It's just one, yeah. Yeah. Like, I was in a lot of life living the brand. Is there a lot of pressure behind that? Of course, there's a lot of pressure. We try to remove a bit the politics and obviously the ethnicity and all of that. It would be a nice thing. But obviously, if you add all of that to it, it becomes quite stressing. Most of you probably know how much we work on making the brand going like traveling elsewhere and being international. And it's not an easy thing. And I realize that even if you have the connections and know the people, they could say, it's like, OK, that's why I'll introduce you, and all of that, and nothing happens. And it's not because the product is not nice. Is it because it's strictly Arabic? Even though I know that you have tried to move away from that. Yeah, move down. And then if you look at my earrings, actually, they say hope, but you can't see the hope. And obviously, in this one team as well, and even in this one. So with the last few years, I would say the last few years, I tried to shift a little bit, keeping the identity, keeping the language, keeping obviously the calligraphy, but making it more contemporary. Honorable. Yeah, less. More abstract, less-- Less, visibly, you know, less-- Exactly, because at the end of the day, other than the brand is being like amazing. And I love it, obviously. But also, I would like as an artist and a designer to grow in different ways and be elsewhere and show the world that what we have and all of it. So-- I can't believe it. The message and the statement that I've always carried and wanted to put forward. Yeah, you actually live and breathe it. But I mean, yeah, we've come a very long way. I mean, you know that a long time ago, my first piece from you, where my children's initials on neon pink wraps, I don't think I took them off that somewhere everywhere. Remember that? Yeah, I do. And my love of fair started from that awhile that I remember. I bought a lot of the really big stuff, the big rings, the big cuffs, everything. But I think, as like you said, now, I'm noticing as well a big difference in how you're in-- but you still stayed very true to the brand, and you were so-- But like these pieces are incredible. The sign of rings are, you know, the pink earrings are incredible. So I just-- They're very, very, very wearable. And also, your touch points in terms of price, I think you've got more depth in that, because you don't have a good pure gold. So that's always tricky. But I think now you have these really fun young pieces as well. True. We have a good range, or a more range. With price points, you know from my-- I have to tell you in my store, because there's a lot of people that always want gifts. You know, they're easy pieces. We can't keep them in stock. You know how many pieces we constantly reorder, and reorder, because for a gift thing, I think you really can't get better. And then sometimes you want to make a piece that is long-lasting. In fact, I'm going to talk to you about that for something for eye candies, 20th anniversary. So we need something which is very, very exciting. Let's do that. Now, that's business. I have a really-- Show me the money, Misha. Show me the money, baby. I'll show you the money. Now, as a person, as a friend, we have seen, you know, your evolution and also how you've grown. And you've become somewhat of a-- I don't want to say the word influence. I'm more like a trend setter. And-- Please don't. --on eye on your end. I think it's a style setter. Yeah, some of the people admire and look up to. And where is brand-new Dean going next? I'm going to go out. How'd you separate? For me, what's the-- It's very hard to separate. How do you separate the two? Because I think you have always been-- I don't want to say lone wolf because actually the whole community is there to support you. Because that's what you have built. But I think you very much see this as your personal kind of drive and motivation. And the therapy and the Dean and Zoe are so-- They're the-- They're the-- True. I think at some point, they merge. They merge. They merge. At some point, they need to run parallel. I agree. And this is what we've been trying to do as of the last year and having like Nadine on her own kind of with project and collaboration. And usually collaborations come to me-- It's funny because they come to me because of the al-Arabi. But then eventually, they end up being for Nadine. But it's in Arabic. So it's a bit of a-- I don't want to say mystery, but they overlap. And when you work with people like Gherla or another-- I'm not sure-- collab that's coming in December. So-- You first-- you first-- you first-- Exactly. But the Gherla was really-- The Gherla was-- Yeah, you just touched on that. Well, that was-- The Gherla was just like by coincidence. I had met the Gherla people over dinner. There was nothing. So just the social pain. As usual, they tell us love with Nadeem. As usual. This is how it happened. How it happened? Actually, they liked what I was wearing. And a month and a half later or so, I got an email saying, listen, would you like to collaborate with us? Would you like to be on a call? Let's discuss this. I was like, yeah, of course, why not? And I thought it was just a small collaboration, not knowing that it was 170 year of the B-bottle, which their iconic button, and it had Arabic. And it's going to be in their archives forever. So being an Arab designer, artist, woman from the region, doing this for the first time on such a global scale. Exactly. Because they've worked with other Arab designers, but not on this case. And that was one of the things, remember, that we touched on because before we kept saying, they would use Arabic designers, but they would never-- Maybe it was just regional campaigns. Yeah. But I think this was the first time after. Because remember, we checked when we did that episode. There was nothing. There was nothing. There was nothing. Internationally. Yeah, and all of the sudden-- This bottle is everywhere. It's in Japan. It's in France. It's in Spain. It's in Switzerland. It's in Switzerland. It's in-- When you meet everyone, you've got both collectors. No. So basically what they do is they send it to key places. You have one in, I think, Bergdorf. Or they have one in New York, one in Schubert-Bau, and one, obviously, in major places. And obviously we've solved a couple, at least for the region. This is what I know. - Yeah, you're not dealing with that. - Exactly. So for me, this is a big, big thing. And obviously it put not only Nadine on the map, but also put Bilarabi on the map. And it solidified kind of the brand. These associations are very important for designers from the region. Obviously, if I lead in this way, I'm giving hope to other designers and other people to actually work harder and make sure that they have a chance at one point to associate with people like Alve Amash or Karen, or all of these. And that's amazing. - Of course. - Because you don't have a team in one place. I mean, the region is big and we love it appreciated. And this is our first place to be and give. But then if somebody takes you away and shows you to the rest of the world, then there's an appreciation for the language, the design, the beauty of the calligraphy and all of it. - Yes. - But what I actually loved most about that project was this overwhelming support and excitement around that and around that. - It's a pride. - It's a pride. I can't even tell you how many people said, we went to Ardubay, we saw the bottle. And like yesterday night, somebody said, "I spend most of my time in the Gareland booth just looking at your bottle." And I felt so proud she was 11 years. So that's, you know, when you hear these things, you're like happy that you've achieved. - Of course. - You know, such a huge, I mean, it's a huge milestone to achieve. And I think honestly, Nadine and not just because you're my friend, but I think you're just gonna brand Nadine, it's gonna keep rising. - And honestly, it's good also for women to know you're a mother, you have your family. - I have a whole lot of questions. - I have no idea. - I don't know how many men the boys. - But does Aziz really? - Yes, he does. - I don't know how many men the boys, but he just doesn't come out very often. Does he? - He has. - He has. - It doesn't. - He's a person for women like this Lebanese lady that you mentioned in Ardubay, that they know that you can have it all. - No, I don't believe you can have it all. - I don't believe you can have it all. - Like it doesn't have to happen in your 20s or 30s. - Yeah, of course. - I mean, I started my journey at 38, 39. - Yeah. - I mean, if you think about it, it's, - You've literally achieved a lot in two years. I must say congratulate you. - Thank you so much. You're so sweet. - Also, just to touch on the panel. - Just to clarify. - I'm 25. - Age. - Yeah. - It's just a long time. - You know, you're being photographed constantly. - Constantly. - Constantly. Is there a big pressure like on the way you know? - Of course, there's a big pressure because I also surround myself with much younger people. - Well, me, yes, yes. - That's a long way, young. - So, yes, there is pressure, but it's just whether you care that much about it or you don't, you know. - Obviously, you don't fall apart. - No. - So you keep what you keep doing smoothly. - But also, you also, you want to stay looking like you want. - You know, you stay true to yourself. - Exactly. So you don't want to change too much. You don't want to, yeah, just like try to keep a certain balance. - I do feel actually you've been, you're in the best shape that you've ever been. - Two. - Yeah. - Two attributes that two of the latte's done. - Maybe Dr. Danny. (laughing) - And one of the loves Dr. Danny. Now, listen, we touched on your husband who really does it, because I have my two years one. - Yes, he does. - And he didn't like to come out. He's a wonderstie. - He has his thing. - He's not a wonderstie, and he's not exactly long. - Obviously, you're two amazing boys. - You're the widest one, I'm very proud of them. They're doing amazing things. - But in terms of, you keep your family quite separate, although they're a thing which is also protected. But now in terms of you, when you see yourself, like going outside of the UAE to represent, do you feel that it's important that your family be a part of that or your family be separate of that? - No, I think my journey is my journey. Obviously, they're there to support, and I support them equally, and to each his own path and these things. But I think when you become an entrepreneur, and you start doing things on your own for the last 17 years, so it becomes part of you. This is who you are, and this is either you have that character or you don't have it. - I always love that your children will be opposed to that. - They do. - They're very supportive, and I would love them to be more and more involved, and hopefully one day they will. Even Aziz, I have said the last year, he's more involved in the husband's life. - It's the husband's life. - It's a great job. - It's a good support because you need that. It's not because you're a woman, or a man can feel as well overwhelmed or overworked, or it's just that support system. And I know if, let's say, I reach out to you, or I reach out to Nes, you guys will lead these. Who will give me a great support. So are some of our community friends and all of that. - Because those guys will be fair. Aziz is also a very successful man. - In the country. - Exactly. - A different field. - And it works so hard. But then when we go out in Dubai, for instance, it's always, "Ahh, the day is not over." - Of course it's the husband's life. - He is happy. He is happy. - He is happy. - He doesn't have that. - Are you going to marry? - You need to go, you need to be able to switch off as well. Because like we were saying, the two are so intrinsically linked. You, Nadine and Bella Adderby, that you have to have that part. - Yeah, so. - Yeah, you do. But going back to Misha's statement at the beginning, when she said, like, when you go out in the, like I was now in Italy, and I was speaking at her. - Yeah, I was wow. - I never thought you'd be able to - So I was on stage and Paula, who invited me to speak, actually she wanted to show the world the Arab entrepreneur woman proud, achieved, and all of that. So. - There are so many of them. - Exactly, exactly. So this is what we need to also show the world. It's not that just like, and we know how the media is, and so many things on the political, not political, all of that, we're not getting into this, but they mainstream, like people. And then, they put you in a box, and this is not who we are. - You're humanizing. - Yeah. - And I think that is the soft power, isn't it, in terms of what the creative industries can do? It's about breaking those boundaries and the soft power, and I know that. - And, you know, there is no ceiling for us. You can reach it as far as you want to go. - Exactly. - And I think the dean is a perfect example of that. - It's human too. - Yeah, 100% of that. - Can I ask you, do you miss your photography? 'Cause I don't think we do a lot of art, and more than you. - I do miss it, but I feel, and it's something, I thought you might ask me, and I was thinking, what kind of questions you'd be asking me, and you never know what you were waiting to see the last. - Exactly, but what if, I thought you might ask me, what is luxury to you? And I was thinking of this today, and I was like, it's time. - What is luxury to you? - What, no, I mean that. - No, no, 100% time. - I was looking at the products, whatever, brands, experience, and when I say product, experience, all of that, it doesn't have to be the top tier brands. Luxury can be any products if it's made with love and properly done, but time. And I feel since COVID, and actually after, everybody's like on the run. - Yeah. - And it's something that I don't appreciate, and I feel like I'm like all over the place, and it's a lot of-- - It's luxury, it's time, and 100% for sure, 100%. - Yeah, I remember the last exhibition of yours, it was a huge exhibition at what was quadrary gallery. - Yeah, exactly. And since then, nothing. Well, do I have a body of work that is ready to be printed and to be asked? But obviously, I have a day to day thing, and the brand, the Dean, and the brand, the Lara being, you know. - And it's not also based on heritage of you. - No, this is on COVID actually. - On COVID, interesting. - Yeah, can't wait to see that. - Yeah, I need to leave a business. - Are we ready? - Are we ready? - Oh my God. - No, I haven't finished. - You haven't finished a question. - What the, that isn't up to the top, - Oh my God. - Oh, it's a big ask. - Are we only friends? - Oh, yes. - Oh, listen. - Don't speak about ACEs. - ACEs. - You can do what? - ACEs. - I will take ACEs. - You have to come. - I will take ACEs from you. - Okay, no, you can't leave my house. - I was actually asked. - Asked us, no? - Asked us gone. (gasps) - What happened? - I didn't know. - I didn't know. - No. - I was asked. - Okay, she left us. - Oh, she left us. - She left us. - She left us. - She left us? - No, not the house. She left us. - No. - She had a kidney failure. - Oh my God, I didn't know. - So we're all big animal lovers. - Yeah, no, this is gonna turn into a cry. - Yeah, that's very emotional. - Oh, I should say. - She's so cute. - Would you, just to, you know, go back to the arts. Would you ever choose between arts and jewelry? Or would you always try to maintain, or do you see them as actually one thing? - Coming from one person as a creative person, it's one thing to be honest. So I can't separate it. The thinking is relatively the same. It comes from me, obviously. So I would love to do more photography. Yeah, and I'm hoping that once we work on the business side of things and have the brand really like clues on its own. Because for the last 17 years, and you probably know, and Misha knows, it has been always organically growing. Yeah. Small team, doing small things. And somebody who's not interested in what I'm saying, just interested in the jewelry. You're literally-- Yeah. So hoping that goes well and on its way on its own, then I will have the luxury of time where I can actually have that moment where I'm on my own thinking. And-- That's not-- I'm not interested. I'm getting ready to do the top five. Top five. Top five. Top five. Hello. Hello. Oh, God. You know that. OK, you take D's of taking D's. No, I don't know. You have to-- I have to ask like, oh, you have to shop. One of the jewelry brands. Oh, what would it be? I would say David Webster. Oh, yeah. David Webster. Stephen Webster. Stephen Webster? Yeah, Stephen Webster. Really? I would know. No, no, no, no. David Morris? No, no, no. David Webster. David Webster. Ah. And why? Why, yes. A very-- nothing is the same, and yet it's the same. So you can feel the song, the NA and the brand. Yeah. And without it being boring and repetitive, I love big pieces. So they do that a lot. They work with a lot of beautiful stones. So they're thinking, and their archive is amazing. Obviously, the second one would be Wilgari, because also of the use of colored stones, and the combination. You love colored stones. I love colored stones. Although, when I started working, my brand was all gold, because it was more of a sculpture. Yeah. So I felt the gold was more of a sculptural material for me. Now it's like, you know, cruising. I love that shape, I love pieces. It's a H-K-C. Right, individual. Yeah, but you feel this is story behind the-- Yeah, the collections do have stories. Obviously, they have names, whether it's name of love, theme, how a faab-bak-nar. So everything has a story. Everything comes back to either like songs from Uncle Thum, Adel Halim, or anything that has to relate to the obviously culture and language. My question would be-- one of the questions is, if you could see your brand in any store worldwide, where would it be? Where would you love it, my own? Yeah, I'm really sorry. Yes, you heard it first. Yes, we're going to open a bit of a Arabie store. Yeah, look. Where would they show it? They should. They should be. This water, for example. What? You know what? Like, you're not going to think about it. I do have-- Shopping shop. Shopping shop. That concept store. Is that the only one? That's how it is right now. Yeah, so this is our first that was opened few months back. And I think it basically took the whole of Lourdes de Abber. Yeah, I remember that. We went to the area. It was fantastic. So we had a beautiful-- I mean, it's a beautiful, if you want, business card for us to show the world what we can do. Worked with an amazing architect, Lebanese, Carl Gershitz. He gave me a beautiful story for the brand. So we re-branded kind of what Blire is in terms of colors and terms of aesthetics and terms of-- Bytex. To me, your office-- That's your-- Oh, yeah. Definitely your point. That's how your office is. I like my home. Yeah. It's definitely-- It's like a representative. I love the idea that I sort of a telly-aid kind of store. Yeah, I know. It's gorgeous. Now, you obviously will discuss that you are Blire of the human. But if you could see one person wearing your stuff-- I love it, friends. I'm just not talking. I'm not just good here. Not today. Not today. Not good here. Who would you love to see wearing your pieces? Who do you think embodies the Blire of a woman? I mean, every woman does. And my point is not celebrities wearing the brand, which is great for the marketing and all of that. But if today they take one ring and they wear it and post it and not wear it again, it doesn't mean anything. So for me, it's somebody, let's say, Misha, Nes, whoever-- I mean, any woman that believes that this represents her and not in terms of jewelry, in terms of a statement and a message for me to-- I mean, I don't know. Do you remember when-- I have this ring, which is actually my son's name in Arabic calligraphy. And I ran the back. It's our three initials. And I lost it. I know. Oh, my God. Because the world knew about that. We found it. Everyone. Because they know how sentimental these pieces are. Yeah, they're very-- They're very personal. Yeah. Like, people, random people on Instagram were messaging me, say, we're going out to the street. And I found it. You found it? It was unbelievable. But I have to admit, I'm a piece of-- Whenever I see Nes and it's a lot, she's always got something from the library. Yeah, always. So the presents. I mean, we had-- I was looking at the Instagram back two, three weeks ago, and I saw her excellency, Lee Milhas, and she had requested the UAE map. And for me, she was wearing it at the UN. And she was speaking at the UN. So for me, although it's a small piece and whatever. But that for me, who was there. It is, you know, tells a lot about the brand, about who we are and all of-- I've got a question. Oh, Lord. No, I want a question. About cats. What is your dream collaboration with a luxury brand or artist? It could be anything. What's your-- Could you have had product collaborations with like a Mac2B, had it with other interior designers? Fadi, now. Fadi. Up to reform. But any-- Or it could be anything fresher or otherwise. What would it be? Probably jewelry. Oh, interesting. With Bulgari? With Bulgari. Bulgari, I know that. Bulgari, you heard it. No, it's-- I mean, they've engaged before people to do things for the region. So I think it's always good to engage with the region for the region and for elsewhere. So why not? Absolutely. I would be amazing, actually. I think that would-- Would you consider-- I mean, I would love a Bellarbi home line. Would you consider that? Do you have time? I don't have time. Yes. You're not the first one to tell me that. Everybody goes-- Because I think I also have a good eye for interior-- Yeah. And probably for product itself. So now we have also a new collaboration five of the UAE designers collaborating with the Kocentino. So we're doing a pullback. So that's going to be interesting. Ooh. You're doing a table. No, I'm not doing a table, actually. I'm doing-- I haven't told them what I'm doing. OK, but I don't. I tend to. But it's a product for a house, like home. OK. I don't know what I'm saying. It's going to be a light, actually. I didn't know that. I know where I'm trying to be a light. I mean, not on to-- It's a light. I will. You heard it there first again, though. One of your collaborations with Ferdy, but they all sold out. That's the problem. These pieces. We can make an exception. We can always make an exception for you. Now, you love art, yes, I do. Apps, she abs, she is. And our home is filled with beautiful pieces. So I'm going to ask a two-part question. Oh. A designer to wear. I want artists to always have me. An artist to hang in my house. There are. I know. I love-- That's like two questions of art. No, no, I mean-- I'm greedy. An artist would be-- it's not a specific artist. It's something I have to relate to. So when I buy a piece of art, it's always because I love what that artist is saying. And what kind of a statement he's giving, or she's giving. Yeah. So I have no one artist that-- Yeah. You're like as an emotional-- Yeah, I am. Because I'm not collecting to collect. I'm not a big collector. But-- But you have beautiful pieces. I don't have beautiful pieces. But they're very-- Like, they're very personal. Yeah, very personal. Like, Risa Aramesh is amazing. I have two office pieces. And I can never get enough of his pieces, actually. He has strong statements. Maybe slightly political, but obviously, as artists, this is what we do is actually put these messages out for people to understand what we're saying. Yeah. And in terms of fashion designer, tough. Tough. Tough, tough. I love the luxury brands, I say, want to be dressing gay. Yeah, but I think-- But you have to feel them. You have never been like them. Again, you will wear what you feel like what represents you. So it doesn't matter the brand. And I know-- I wear a lot of-- and I don't like usually talking about these things, but a lot of Gucci. Because when Alessandro was there, he had a statement to me. And that was part of what I felt for the brand. So now we'll have to wait and see how it is. But obviously-- What are the other dirty brands? I mean you have obviously Yeah, it's a product We love a bit of a tiger Are we ready for the last but not least? Tell me Could you like me more than this? Do you like me more than this? You're such an attention stick I love you equally Do you know I have to say that dude was one of the first people I met in the dream This is so. No, no, no And And You know, I've had to like a few weird experiences As people are weird And did you just open up her world? Like I met so many good people You included But what I like about Nadine is Well, not just this one thing But we are so different Nadine and I in terms of our social Especially our social neighbours so different But she just lets me be me Of course You are. What I say I can't The whole S-1 friendship That you let that person be there And you like me because of that You are darling, you're hanging out with the wrong people I know that so Thank you so much for bringing me these I really appreciate everything Give us one last sort of book Give us one last book Maybe for those who are part of wisdom For new up and coming designers Women Not even up and coming Not just designers Just be yourself Just be yourself I mean because if you don't You're going to get lost You're going to get tired And you're going to lose your way So if you are true to yourself You're going to keep on doing what you're doing And you're feeling fine about it And you're going to succeed You don't just enjoy the dream Just be happy Enjoy the ride Be happy Over and out From all of us We love you We love you I know you love me more You can do that We love you Good luck Good bye