There are Maria Tash boutiques all over the world. Have you noticed a difference in piercing trends between Europe, the USA and the Middle East or are there some pieces or curations that are popular across the board?
We have noticed that white gold is more popular in the Middle East, whereas yellow gold edges out white in New York and Los Angeles. Our Middle Eastern clients love the larger pieces, which makes me very happy. That said, many of our clients are very international and travel to cities with other Maria Tash locations and that travel blurs trends per region.
There are countless ways to approach a curated ear and it can be overwhelming. What advice would you give to someone beginning their piercing journey at Maria Tash and what is the key to a balanced curation?
I would start out with an idea of a piercing location and then allow a piece of jewellery to capture your attention. I would imagine how that piece would look in my ear by physically moving it around before solidifying the placement. I have created software to help this process virtually – Tash Studio. Using this patented visualisation tool, one can click, drag, and rotate pieces as well as change metal colours and add charms on a virtual ear before coming into the store. We also have Tash Studio available inside my stores if you would like to work with our stylists to help guide the process virtually before the physical pieces are held up to your ears. When styling multiple pieces, I think very readable, deliberate curations are the best where the elements follow vertical and horizontal alignments.
The Ear Cuffs are a brilliant idea that allow customers to experiment with placements before committing to the piercing. Do you have any personal piercing regrets?
Thank you for appreciating my new Ear Cuffs! They are part of my ongoing journey to help clients have the best preview possible of their purchases and control over what they can look like pre-piercing. It is imperative that clients have control over piercing placement and jewellery fit. We have many different diameters for any style of ring, so now clients can try them all on pre-piercing and direct our stylists and piercers to create the look they’ve simulated with the cuffs.
As far as my own piercings, I don’t have any regrets. I’ve done a lot of experimentation and even had large stretched earlobes that have been reconstructed back down. All of this personal history of jewellery fits and healing times of piercings have added to my knowledge of what jewellery can be worn in what piercings, and that knowledge and experience is invaluable.
With multiple piercings and body modifications once seen as taboo, especially in the region, are there any myths or misconceptions you still have to frequently clear up?
The majority of multiple piercings in this era are on the ear. The jewellery for ear piercings is so mutable: one can remove or change pieces upon desire. That flexibility is part of its vast appeal and one can wear something large in a given piercing on one day and a tiny stone in it another day. I have not thought about any negative misconceptions as it relates to ear piercing for over a decade. I opened my first store in 1993, and back then, before the jewellery was thinner and more elegant, there were more opinions about the look of multiple piercings with thick steel jewellery that was not easy to change. However, any connotation from the 1970s or 1980s was already blurred. Now having a piercing with fine jewellery is ubiquitous and customisable, and any thoughts about how a piece of jewellery assigns a social or gender affiliation no longer apply. Piercings on the torso are still more taboo, can take longer to heal, and are less popular. Navel piercings are universally thought of as beautiful, whereas other torso piercings still have more of a stirring effect.
Do you have a favourite piece of Maria Tash jewellery, or a piece that represents a particular journey?
I really love my floating diamond tassels. They are light and full of movement, and I adore pear diamonds. In these rings the pear diamonds point down, which is more non-conventional, and I can wear these rings in my first lobes, in the middle of my ears, and in my helix piercing. They’re full of light and are comfortable and versatile.
When you visit your Dubai boutiques, what would a typical day in the life look like?
I really enjoy visiting Dubai. I love the weather, feeling safe and most importantly spending time with my staff and clients. A typical day would start with brief exercise and then coordinating a meeting time with my colleagues before travelling to a mall. Once at the Dubai Mall or Mall of Emirates Maria Tash store, I would observe staff and then have sit down meetings with the stylists and then the piercers to see if some of the ideas and initiatives I come up with in the New York corporate office have effectively reached them.
There is always so much to discuss and demonstrate, and I address questions from the staff. I also want to understand client feedback. Usually there is a break for wonderful food and of course I always want to go shopping for a bit. Staff is on shifts so I usually need to continue training and observation with different times within one store. If my trip has been announced, sometimes there are a few hours dedicated to meeting with journalists and then meeting with clients. Since I have a store in Mall of Emirates as well as the Dubai Mall, there are days dedicated to meetings within each store. I also have a corporate office in Dubai as well as a wonderful PR team, so other days are filled with meetings at the corporate office. I need to schedule more play time on my next trip! I usually also travel to my other stores in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia when I visit Dubai.
What is next for Maria Tash in the region?
Another personal visit to the region is overdue. I hope to come in the early winter and work with staff on new preview tools for clients we have not released yet.
Are there any Middle East-exclusive collections in the works?
When I design larger pieces and find or cut unusual diamonds, I always think about releasing them first in the Middle East, where I know they will be appreciated. These types of unique releases happen throughout the year and get announced on social media.
What can we expect from the new Maria Tash jewellery collection?
Now we have many more sizes and shapes of some of my favourite jewellery, including marquise and pear diamonds which are now invisibly set! I worked a long time on making the metal holding the stones strong but as minimal as possible. These invisible settings are a brand identifier and are very important to me. I love when stones sit so low to the skin that they become part of you with their comfort. These new diamonds look like they float on your ear or body. I also have new gorgeous marquise invisibly set eternity rings, some with floating diamond marquise dangles. I also have a new size of a classic – a large marquise diamond butterfly. There is also new rook jewellery. The idea is for one to come in and mix and play with all of these new components to create a wonderful collection that speaks to your own definition of beauty. Discover the collections
