With the brass rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets of her Mahnal jewelry line, Shayba Diaz Muhammad is encouraging people to lead more intentional lives. After crafting jewelry at home for nearly two years, she moved into a studio near Cherokee Street last year. With each piece, the St. Louis native aims to create a timeless minimalist design that preserves the idea behind it, such as unity or energy. In collaboration with the Arts and Education Council, Muhammad also founded the Makers Program to support local African-American and Latino artists.
Why Mahnal? I knew I wanted the name to be Arabic because of my own background. Mahnal means “attainment,” “achievement,” and “success.” This is exactly what I want people to feel when they wear my jewelry.
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What inspires your work? I get excited looking at ancient jewelry from places like Italy, Egypt, Greece, and different tribal areas. I feel like referencing the past when I pull inspiration is important, because I always want it to have a feeling or a texture. I always want it to tell a story. Sometimes I’ll start with an idea, like wahada [“unity” in Arabic], and I’ll say, “How can I reinterpret that idea into something wearable?”
Tell me more about wahada. My Wahada Collection features simple parallel lines that stack one on top of the other. The idea is two separate entities being joined together as one. I’ve had multiple people come to me and ask for a wedding ring inspired by this, because of the meaning, but it doesn’t necessarily have to represent a couple. It can also represent the duality of our own nature. It’s these sorts of ideas that I infuse into the jewelry; I want people to be contemplative about it and just take a moment to slow down and reflect a little bit, even if it’s just through this small thing on your hand.
