Beauty and emotion
Sandbox is a conceptual jewellery brand that expresses unique human experiences through artistic pieces.
Founder Suhayla Al Sheikh was born in Egypt and raised in Saudi Arabia. Her mother was a jewellery designer and her father a photographer. At just 18 she was awarded an artistic achievement award for her realistic paintings signed by President Barack Obama, which further fortified her love for art and pushed her to study Visual Arts at the American University in Cairo.
She went on to create conceptual work which then translated onto her jewellery pieces. She spent a few years experimenting paintings, drawings, manual photography, and modern-day photography until 2015 when her mother took her to a stone store which inspired her to blend her creative vision with jewellery. Then, in summer 2016 she launched “Sandbox” and her first collection, “Rising from the Ruins”.
Suhayla works with Egyptian silver artisans who create each piece by hand, while she dedicates her time to design and crafting the stones. Using her platform to raise awareness, in early 2019 she shot a campaign for her collection “Timbre” in aim to shine a light on diversity and inclusivity. She worked with models with vitiligo, albino, and freckle-specked skin.
Then later in the year she wanted to highlight the issue of pollution in our oceans with her collection “Salt” – inspired by environmentally-friendly solutions to incorporate and transform waste from its waters. The pieces were made with hand-molded silver shells and crushed natural stones that appear to float in water, which is in fact clear plastic recycled in the heart of Cairo.
She took it one step further by collaborating with Egyptian company Up-Fuse to create the packaging made from recycled plastic.
This month Suhayla has unveiled a Valentine’s Day collection with a percentage of all proceeds going to Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation.