Hanan Al-Balawi, a Saudi jeweler, has converted her father's hobby of collecting natural stones into a thriving business. Peerless is the brand of her jewelry designs that are made from precious stones from Al Ula desert that have been collected by her father over several years. She and her sister learned to polish the stones from their father and began to shape them to create unique pieces of jewelry. The stones used in Peerless are mainly of agate, amazonite, jasper, quartz, amethyst, and howlite among others. Each piece of jewelry is a reminiscence of their childhood memories when they used to go on stone-collecting trips. Peerless offers modern jewelry that is designed and made of pure silver and gold-plated silver.
The desert of AlUla is a hub of different types of stones, including the finest types of precious stones. Al-Balawi and her family compete to find the best stones as the desert always surprises them with interesting gemstones every time. Peerless also provides the opportunity of transforming visitors’ favorite stones into unique jewelry pieces, which could be worn as a memento inspired by Al Ula. The brand offers stone slices on metal or acrylic stands and rosaries too.
Al-Balawi joined the jewelry program at Addeera School, an arts and design center in 2021, to enhance her knowledge and skills in silversmithing and jewelry design. Addeera School, located in Al-Jadidah, offers weekly workshops on various topics ranging from painting with natural earthen pigments to building collaborative 3D geometric structures. Al-Balawi was one of the first batches to join the school before it was officially launched last year. She has been learning everything from scratch, including all the techniques related to the jewelry industry, from welding to melting, wax, and so on.
Peerless has a wide range of customers, including travelers who wish to carry a part of AlUla with them wherever they go. The brand is committed to producing customers’ pieces quickly to ensure that they can take a piece of precious Al Ula with them around the world. Al-Balawi believes that every stone she puts in their jewelry is linked to a beautiful memory from their stone-collecting trips since she was six years old. She is passionate about preserving the cultural heritage of Al Ula through her brand and educating visitors about the value of the precious stones that the desert produces.
