The hawk-eyed jewelry designer
whole new world opened up to him as every color he considered imaginable was finally available on his plate out of the blue. “Now I could use stones like a painter uses color. That completely changed my idea of design. Apart from the quality of Swarovski crystals, the superb variety of shapes, sizes and colors offered makes them any designer’s dream material to work with,” he says.
There are elements of different cultures playing in his lovely creations too since he has been part of them at different stages of his life in different places he lived. “These unforgettable experiences form part of my inspiration and creep back into my designs. When I see parts of South Africa or Spain exemplified in my work it’s almost a surprise to me when I notice it. I try not to think too much about the inspiration. Rather I prefer to act out when it happens,” he says.
For his Autumn/Winter 2014-15 collection, he has created four distinguished lines: “Maleficent” inspired by the Disney character and the beauty of the dark side, “Ava Gardner” inspired by the elegant diva — it’s very warm looking and smooth to the touch, “Bollywood Princess” inspired by the colorful imagery of Bollywood pictures and finally “Can-Can” which is inspired by the Belle Époque and the Moulin Rouge. One celebrity in mind for his pieces At present the one who can really do justice to his enticingly designed jewels is the multi-talented actress Julianne Moore. She has a timeless beauty with that red hair and green eyes which he has always thought to be one of the prettiest combinations, but most of all, he simply admires her style and revels in the fact that she has an aura of a cinematographic genius. “Unlike other celebrities today, she is eternal like Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth or Audrey Hepburn. Julianne doesn’t seem to have been replicated in a plastic surgeon’s lab like other stars in Hollywood,” reveals Heunis.
Besides these four, he shares the same degree of praise for other style icons like Frida Kahlo, Iris Apfel, Sophia Loren, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Grace Kelly, Jackie O and Brigitte Bardot.
Asked what type of women he designs his jewels for, he said, “It has been incredible to see the number of different women and personalities that buy my jewelry. It is a completely different person every time. Each one of them makes it impossible to define just one kind of woman whom my jewels are aimed at.” And when it comes to women’s liking for jewelry in the Arab world, it’s a bit different as compared to what women in Europe seek. “I think hands (hand movement) are very important in Arab culture. Therefore, I find that many of my Arab clients like to wear bracelets and rings. Also, earrings work very well in most Arab countries,” he says. “I think at the end of the day beauty is universal although there might be small differences. Overall people tend to want to feel beautiful. That’s the common factor.”
He has plans in store to diversify his brand as times goes on. “We’ve grown the business a lot over the past few years. The idea now is to create different products and expand into challenging markets like China. You know the possibilities are endless,” he concludes.