Farah Abu Takes on the World
Filipina jewelry designer stuns audiences at Los Angeles Fashion Week and Phoenix Fashion Week with handmade pieces
Born and raised in Iligan City,
Farah Abu has been steadily making a name for herself within the fashion industry for her unique ability to elevate jewelry design to what can only be considered breathtaking wearable pieces of art. With an expanding international clientele further driving public clamor for her oneof-a-kind pieces, Abu shows that she can compete with the best of the best when she delighted audiences at the Los Angeles Fashion Week and Phoenix Fashion Week with her latest collection.
Farah’s love for fashion forced her to hone her handicraft skills in order to address the gaping need for bold designs that matched her spirited and energetic personality. In her final year completing her Architectural degree at the University of Santo Tomas, she became actively involved in designing jewelry as a way to express herself, not knowing fate was leading her to her true calling. From making scale models as part of her school requirement to constructing miniature pieces of art from semi-precious stones, her designs gained a steady array of customers across continents, prompting her to become a full-time designer.
Her tenacious creativity leaves her to contstantly challenge herself with each new collection, all of which are handmade, requiring countless hours of painstaking effort both conceptually and technically. Though she is adept at developing traditional jewelry, she has also expanded the very conception of body ornaments by creating everything from shoulder pads, armor, corsets, bra-lets, crowns, body chains, and bridal wear.
A nature lover to the very core, Farah has often drawn inspiration from her environment naming the sea as her favored muse. Enamored by the endless number of colors, shapes, and textures under water she has captured the ocean’s beauty in her color schemes always dazzling and dynamic and made of an assortment of unique materials she personally sources.
During her participation in the Los Angeles and Phoenix Fashion Week, Farah showcased “Coral Reef,” which included 16 looks and served as an intrepid extension of her Liquid Line Collection. The collection featured bold and colorful body jewelry and neck pieces that are born of the designer’s passionate love affair with the ocean and the infinite possibilities that the vibrant and pulsating marine life represent in it.
The sea offers countless permutations and combinations of hues and silhouettes, all of which have captured the imagination of Farah. Pointing to the ocean depths as a metaphor to the infinite well of creativity, from which she draws inspiration for her designs, Farah is committed to challenging herself and bringing about her own artistic evolution with each new endeavor.
As a multi-disciplinary artist, Farah’s creative process has led her to explore designs that feature a careful balance of the sophisticated and avantgarde, touching on unique aesthetics that are both traditional and modern.
Though she has reveled in the intricacy of Arabic geometric designs and Indian jewelry, she also manages to integrate minimalist aesthetics to provide a touch of elegance in each piece.
The complexity, meticulous details, and painstaking creative and technical effort required by these pieces elevate jewelry design into visual art. Colorful, bold, and daring, each work exudes a fierceness that matches women who are open to embracing their inner fire and are unafraid to make their presence known. The designs of Farah are for the strong and audacious, those who are unapologetic about their authenticity and willing to drown and immerse themselves in beauty.
Farah Abu’s designs are for the strong and audacious. Colorful, bold, and daring, each work exudes a fierceness that matches women who are open to embracing their inner fire and are unafraid to make their presence known.