From Jordanian royals to Emily in Paris, architect Nohma Kaaki is going places with her jewellery brand

Lebanese designer takes The National inside her creative process

Nohma Kaaki, founder of Nohma Design, wearing her Celestial Module as a ring. Photo: Nohma Design

A decade ago, architect and urban planner Nohma Kaaki set out to design a piece of jewellery for herself – something sculptural, personal and unlike anything she had seen before.

What emerged from her experiment was the Celestial Module, a three-dimensional trapezoidal form inspired by the way constellations trace shapes and symbols across the sky. “We’ve seen horoscopes,” Kaaki says. “But for me, this was more universal. That’s why I called it a ‘module’, because it could be anything. It wasn’t just a ring.”

Originally 3D-printed in plastic, the prototype caught the attention of several passersby. “It was worth nothing,” she explains. “But the aesthetics made people stop me and ask about it”.

In 2015, a man approached her, asking to commission the piece as a proposal ring. Only later did she learn it was for a member of the Jordanian royal family.

The Celestial Module by Nohma Design. Photo: Nohma Design

That moment marked the beginning of Nohma Design, which quickly garnered critical acclaim. Within a year of launching, Kaaki won the Middle East Jewellery Awards. Her designs, rooted in architectural principles and the mathematical Golden Ratio, feel both precise and poetic – bold, yet skillfully balanced.

Now crafted in solid gold, the Celestial Module is as versatile as it is symbolic. It can be worn on any finger, as a pendant, earring, or even as a bracelet. With a mirrored counterpart – the two halves are called Zenith and Nadir – worn together, the shapes evoke butterfly wings; reversed, they resemble a shield. “Being Lebanese and from a turbulent part of the world, last summer I felt like being in a defensive mode,” she says.

When scaled down, the module takes on echoes of the Tree of Life – whether a Lebanese cedar, an olive tree, or a palm. Even the packaging for the brand reflects the colours of her upbringing: Phoenician purple lines the interior – an homage to the ancient dye discovered on the shores of Tyre, Lebanon – while the outer shell comes in cedar green or golden orange, symbolising the sunlit dunes of the UAE, where she was raised.

Four pieces from Nohma Design's modular collection. Photo: Nohma Design

Her pieces, some recently featured in Emily in Paris, aren’t designed for mass appeal, she explains. “It’s meant to be niche,” she says. “Like a hidden gem. People need to find it.”

Kaaki invites the wearer into the creative process. “I give you the jewellery as a blank canvas. You become the artist.” Each design is adaptable, deeply personal and expressive. A dual-wear earring, for example, can be worn as a minimalist stud, or with an added blade-like element that cuts behind the ear. “It’s not just about personality, it’s about emotion.”

Her method is as labour-intensive as her vision is clear, every piece begins with a 3D-printed wax model, then cast in gold. “It’s not the typical way of doing things. The manufacturing cost is more than triple the cost, but it allows a human element, a high level of finishing.”

The many surfaces of the design become a canvas for diamonds or engravings to mark anniversaries, births, or even just prose. “It becomes a legacy,” she says. “It’s very personal.”