Born and raised in the UAE between Abu Dhabi and New York, sisters Oloof and Dujanah Jarrar have introduced a distinctive new voice to the region’s contemporary jewellery landscape through House Janolo. Founded in late 2025, the fine jewellery house approaches design through the lens of individuality, emotion and craftsmanship, creating pieces that feel both expressive and deeply personal.
Working exclusively with 18k gold and responsibly sourced natural gemstones, House Janolo balances bold colour, sculptural forms and artisanal techniques with a refined sense of restraint. Each piece is handmade, embracing the subtle imperfections, tonal variations and character that come with traditional craftsmanship. Inspired by art, fashion, interiors, travel and memory, the sisters create jewellery designed not simply to be worn, but lived in.
Their debut collection, Wild Beginnings, draws from nature’s instinctive logic, exploring the idea that beauty and function often exist together in perfect balance. Alongside this, the brand’s House Signatures collection introduces enduring designs centred around asymmetry, floating stones and modern heirloom pieces intended for everyday rituals and quiet luxury. Produced intentionally in small quantities, House Janolo represents a slower and more thoughtful approach to fine jewellery, one rooted in longevity rather than trends.
As a new generation of regional brands reshapes the Middle East’s luxury landscape, House Janolo stands out for its strong visual identity, emotional storytelling and commitment to craftsmanship. Here, the founders reflect on building the brand, designing for individuality, and why jewellery should feel like an extension of the wearer.
What originally inspired you to launch the brand together, and what kind of jewellery house did you want to create?
House Janolo existed as an idea long before it became a brand. We actually had the name for years and held onto it, even before we knew what it would become. Both of us come from design backgrounds, so the idea moved through different worlds for a while before eventually finding its place in jewellery. We landed on jewellery from the honest place of being the customer and feeling like something was missing. There were many brands we admired, but we struggled to find pieces with the scale, colour, and presence we personally wanted to wear every day — pieces that felt expressive and bold without losing refinement. We were designing for ourselves first. Working together was never really a question. We always knew we wanted to build something together; the only thing that took time was figuring out what that thing would be.
How would you describe the House Janolo woman?
The House Janolo woman doesn’t walk into a room trying to be seen. She walks in knowing she will be. Not in a loud way, but in a way that makes people look twice without fully knowing why. There’s something very natural about her presence. She’s precise in how she puts things together, but it never feels forced or overthought. That’s probably what people respond to most.
What stories or feelings do you hope people connect with through your pieces?
We are creatives inspired by other creatives. A lot of what inspires us exists outside of jewellery, in art, film, interiors or fashion. We’ve always been drawn to things that feel thoughtful, emotional, and intentional, and I think that naturally became part of House Janolo.
Emotion is a huge part of the brand. We want people to feel something when they wear the pieces. Sometimes that comes from colour, sometimes from a stone or sometimes from the memories that become attached to it over time.
More than anything, House Janolo is rooted in individuality. It’s about embracing who you are without softening it. We want the pieces to feel expressive and personal, so different people can wear them in completely different ways and still make them feel like their own.
Your debut collection, Wild Beginnings, draws inspiration from nature and instinctive beauty. What was the creative starting point behind the collection?
There wasn’t one specific starting point for Wild Beginnings. It was more an accumulation of ideas, references, stones, and conversations that slowly began to form one clear theme and feeling. As we were moodboarding, nature kept resurfacing; more specifically, the wild beings that inhabit it. What really struck us was the idea that their exterior is often their greatest tool for survival. Texture, colour, pattern, and form all exist for a reason. That idea stayed with us.
Across the collection, we worked with a wide range of gemstones — from emeralds and citrines to Paraíba tourmalines, kunzites and topaz — all in very different scales to allow for the stones and designs to work together naturally.
Many of the pieces are designed for stacking, layering and personal interpretation. Why was versatility and self-expression so important to the brand from the beginning?
House Janolo was built because, as customers ourselves, we struggled to find pieces that reflected what we actually wanted to express — creativity, individuality, boldness, emotion, even a sense of play. We’ve always believed jewellery should say something about the person wearing it because it’s one of the few things we wear that is completely intentional. You don’t need jewellery in the way you need clothing. It’s a choice.
At the same time, we also see jewellery as something you build over time. So from the beginning, we wanted to create pieces that could stand strongly on their own but also layer naturally into someone’s existing collection.
That thinking influenced both the design and the engineering of the pieces. A lot of attention goes into how things can be worn, stacked, layered, opened, closed or styled differently. We always try to balance a very distinct House Janolo identity with wearability and versatility, because we want people to genuinely live in the pieces and make them their own.
Craftsmanship sits at the heart of House Janolo. Why was it important for the pieces to be handmade using traditional artisanal techniques?
For us, when something is handmade, you can feel it. Especially with jewellery. Given the intricacy and detail in our pieces, everything takes a lot of time, patience, and care, and we think that carries weight. There’s something special about knowing what you’re wearing wasn’t manufactured but actually made carefully and intentionally by hand.
We also love that no two pieces are ever exactly the same. No two stones are identical, no enamel work is identical. To us, that’s the beauty of craftsmanship. It means every person is getting something truly individual. In a world becoming more automated and AI-driven, it creates a different connection to the object.
And while we are deeply inspired by traditional artisanal jewellery-making techniques and use them as our foundation, we also love combining those older methods with newer engineering and technologies that allow craftsmen to push ideas further and create things that maybe weren’t possible before.
What have been some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned so far since launching House Janolo?
We are learning every day. One of the biggest lessons has been learning how important it is to stay adaptable — to always be on your feet, communicate constantly, and find solutions quickly when things don’t go as planned.
Another big lesson is that there really is no linear path. Especially in jewellery, and especially when you’re trying to build something international, things happen in ways you don’t expect. Sometimes goals you thought would happen early take much longer, and other things happen far sooner than you imagined. Success rarely looks clean or perfectly planned out.
We’ve learned that it’s important to have a clear vision and strong goals, but not to become too attached to exact timelines or how you think everything is supposed to unfold.
More than anything, we’ve learned how important it is to protect the brand’s DNA. To stay honest to what House Janolo is, continue refining it, and make sure everything we put out — whether it’s a product, an experience, or a conversation — reflects the standard we believe in and would want as customers ourselves.
The Middle East is seeing a growing appreciation for contemporary regional jewellery brands. How do you think the regional fine jewellery landscape is evolving today?
Even though we’ve only been in the industry for around eight months, it’s very clear that jewellery is an industry built through generations. There’s a lot of history in it, which is beautiful in many ways, but we also think that can sometimes make the industry feel comfortable or repetitive.
What feels exciting right now, especially in this region, is that a younger generation is entering the space and bringing a different energy. The newer brands are approaching jewellery in ways that feel less traditional and less expected. There’s more experimentation, more personality, more emotion behind it. It feels less formulaic.
We also think people are reconnecting with the idea that jewellery should actually be lived in. Fine jewellery is made from durable materials for a reason, it’s supposed to become part of your everyday life.
What’s also refreshing is seeing more women enter the industry and build brands from their own perspectives. Jewellery has historically been a very male-dominated space, so seeing women designing for women in a more instinctive and personal way feels like a really important shift. There’s naturally a certain understanding there.
Alongside Wild Beginnings, you introduced your House Signatures collection. How do you see these core pieces evolving as the brand grows?
House Signatures is really the core of House Janolo. It’s probably the clearest expression of what we naturally gravitate towards and what we feel the house really specialises in — strong design with confident simplicity.
A lot of the pieces stand out through shape, colour, proportion, or presence on the body. Our House Sphere rings are a good example of that. Their scale and unusual colour combinations create a very strong presence when worn, yet the designs still feel clean and intentional.
The collection is also deeply centred around natural gemstones, which is really at the heart of the brand. We’re very drawn to stones that feel overlooked, unusual, or full of character. With House Signatures, the stone becomes the storytelling itself. The design exists to support, frame, and elevate it.
As the brand grows, we see the collection evolving naturally through new additions that remain true to the House Janolo DNA. Over time, we hope these pieces become real identifiers of the house — the kinds of designs people immediately associate with the brand.
What advice would you give to other young women and entrepreneurs in the region looking to build brands rooted in creativity, craftsmanship and authenticity?
If it feels right, do it. Don’t wait too long and don’t ask too many opinions in the beginning, because eventually you stop hearing yourself.
Once you start, work hard and stay consistent. Especially as women, we’re still entering industries that can feel very intimidating at times. There will be rooms where you’re the youngest person there, or one of the only women there. Don’t let that shake your confidence. And even if you do feel intimidated sometimes, don’t let it stop you from advocating for yourself and what you believe in.
We also think people can feel when a brand is authentic. If it’s genuinely true to you, people respond to that naturally. So don’t build something based on what you think is trending right now, because trends move quickly. Build something you actually understand and would genuinely want yourself. For us, it’s important that we are also the customer. We understand the feeling we’re trying to create because it’s something we personally connect to.
Another important one is who you work with matters a lot. The people helping you build and create become part of the brand too, so take your time with that and invest in the right relationships.
Looking ahead, what can we expect to see next from the brand?
We’ve really just started, which is the exciting part. There’s a lot we want to do, and it’s very easy to get carried away thinking too far ahead, but we’ve been quite conscious about focusing on what we’re building right now. Wild Beginnings has connected with people in a way we honestly didn’t expect, and we still feel very inspired by that world. So instead of rushing into something completely new, we’re continuing to explore it further.
We’ve just launched the second drop, and there’s more coming over the summer.
A lot of what’s happening behind the scenes right now is research and experimentation. We spend a lot of time with our craftsmen thinking about new techniques, different ways of working, and how to combine more traditional craftsmanship with newer methods in a way that feels genuinely fresh.
We’re also starting to explore different proportions, cuts, and forms that maybe didn’t fully belong within Wild Beginnings, but feel like a natural evolution for the house. There’s still a lot we want to try, and honestly, a lot we still want to learn. It still feels very open, which is exciting for us.
By Lindsay Judge
