First, there’s the harpist, perched on a chair in the middle of it all, plinking the strings of her winged instrument. The cloudy resonance that echoes every passage shimmers in the air like pixie dust. The effect is heightened by the setting: String lights abound, tangled into the canopy of trees. And displayed in glass cabinets around the entire space are wondrous sparklers gleaming in golds and silvers, and dazzling with precious gemstones. That the whole evening is designed to sparkle is fitting. Tonight, the storied Egyptian jewelry house Azza Fahmy is celebrating a milestone: the United States debut of its high jewelry collection.

But first, I have to preface this by saying that my connection with the brand goes back more than a decade, to my years in Egypt, where Azza Fahmy was regarded as one of the most exalted names in Egyptian design — favored by royalty and celebrities alike. Born in Sohag in Upper Egypt, Azza Fahmy graduated with a degree in interior design, and though she initially worked for the government in Cairo, she found the job highly unfulfilling. A pivotal moment came in 1969 when she discovered a book on medieval jewelry at a fair, which sparked a near-instant passion for the craft. 

To learn the ins and outs of jewelry-making firsthand, she took an apprenticeship in Cairo’s Khan el-Khalili market — the city’s main bazaar. She was the first female to do so. In the mid-1970s, she received a fellowship from the British Council to study jewelry design at the City of London Polytechnic, and later returned to her home country to set up her first workshop, mining centuries of ancient Egyptian history and heritage to create contemporary jewelry that was in a class of its own. Unsurprisingly, over the years, Azza Fahmy grew into a luxury design house with a global presence in London, Dubai, and Jordan. 

Azza Fahmy has always been, and remains, close to my heart. That’s why tonight feels like a full-circle moment — especially when I meet Amina Ghali, who now heads up design at her mother’s business alongside her elder sister, Fatma Ghaly. Perusing the jewelry displayed around the space, she gives me some background on the brand’s foray into high jewelry. Launched a few years ago, the new line features one-of-a-kind pieces crafted to showcase time-honored artisanal techniques and the finest precious stones in exquisite compositions. 

“Essentially, we do a lot of stars and crescents,” Amina explains as we pause in front of a 18-karat gold necklace. “It’s part of our ‘Soraya’ collection.” Soraya refers to the Pleiades, known in English as the Seven Sisters — a small cluster of seven bright stars in the constellation of Taurus. Crescent moons and stars are common symbols in Middle Eastern ornamentation and Azza Fahmy’s designs, and here, they orbit around a central medallion delicately engraved with the words “happiness and joy” in Arabic. The necklace boasts a row of aquamarine stones and multi-strand bands and tassels of discrete little pearls. 

In the same display, another piece reprises the house’s crescent-and-star motif: a 18-karat gold brooch encrusted with diamonds. Three teardrop-shaped aquamarine stones are suspended from the edge of the moon. “Every piece is a one-off,” Amina explains. “I source each and every stone from India. I travel to India two or three times a year, and I handpick every stone.” The sisters have been accompanying their mother on research trips around the world for decades. Known for its sophisticated gemological tradition, India in particular has been an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the family, and a place renowned for the exceptional quality of its gemstones. 

Among the highlights is a bangle set with four octagonal-cut aquamarines in an intricate art-deco-inspired design. While the brilliant flashes in their depth are enough to make you want to lean in for a closer look, there’s another design element that steals equal attention — and it’s the calligraphy. The words of Persian poet Shams Tabrizi twist and curve around the circumference of the bangle in Arabic: “Peace be upon those who flourish every heart they touch, as if they were rain the depth of the heart.” 

In Egypt, calligraphy is a celebrated centuries-old art form that plays with the bulbous dips and looped endings of Arabic letters — and transforms them into a sort of a beautiful pattern in its own right. Azza Fahmy’s designs almost always include some form of Arabic script: verses of poetry, common sayings, words of affirmation. “Happiness” is inscribed on the central medallion of another high-jewelry necklace. “Endearment” appears on a pair of earrings adorned with tanzanite. It’s a love language that the brand has made its own — a way to connect with wearers but also as a way for wearers to, perhaps, better connect with themselves.

Elsewhere, there are several standout pieces from the brand’s incredible body of work, including astoundingly intricate collar necklaces, some of which took the family years of research — delving into history and talking to anthropologists and archeologists — to bring to life. One of them, dubbed the “Lotus Pectoral,” is designed after the ceiling patterns found in the temples of the ancient city of Thebes, which is now modern-day Luxor. It’s a study in symmetry, bringing together pharaonic symbols and motifs like flowering lotuses, lotus buds, lily pads, and rosettes cast in silver and gold. 

“I’m a huge fan of mixing gold and silver,” Amina tells me, pointing to her own wrist, which is stacked with mixed-metal bangles from her family’s brand. Each one of them is designed to be worn with ease — no complicated fastening involved. “We always call it practical luxury,” she says. “Everything has to be taken off and put on very fast.”

After a close viewing of Azza Fahmy’s joyous jewels and a little mixing and mingling, it’s time for dinner. Taking my place at the table, I’m surrounded by the warm, honeyed glow of candles in alabaster holders — a translucent, light-colored stone, prized since ancient times for its beauty and workability. Native greenery is artfully arranged across the table: monstera leaves, birds of paradise, and sprigs of tamarind. (I’m reminded of the tamarind trees that once grew around my former home in Egypt.)

On tabletops, small pendants are scattered around plates, each engraved with a word of affirmation; one reads Baraka, or “Blessing” in Arabic. The menu cards are cut in the shape of a lotus flower, offering a glimpse into the night’s bites, like wagyu skewers with tahini, roasted veggies with flatbread, and pan-seared scallops. Custom cocktails for the evening riff on Egyptian-inspired names and flavors like hibiscus flowers, mint, and freshly brewed Al Arousa tea — a popular brand of black tea in Egypt. (Tea has always been such a treasured ritual in Cairo; this instantly triggers a jolt of nostalgia.) 

Winding down the night, waiters serve perfectly torched crème brûlée and orange olive oil cakes. (Both are equally delicious.) The topics at the table jump from fashion to entertainment to art and design and back to fashion. But the most resonant conversation tonight is the one led by Azza Fahmy’s work, imbued with the stories of centuries of craft. The dialogue the family cultivates between heritage and contemporary jewelry design is the most enduring exchange of ideas — and one I won’t soon forget.