Startup of the Week: Tebr Jewelry; Each piece made with the utmost care

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Updated 18 May 2021
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Startup of the Week: Tebr Jewelry; Each piece made with the utmost care

JEDDAH: Abeer Khafaji is a Saudi artist who designs and sells luxury jewelry for her brand, Tebr Jewelry. She discovered her love for the craft when she began experimenting with handmade jewelry.

“I began studying jewelry designing. It took several courses to hone my skills. Now I make sure that each piece is made with the utmost care, using the highest quality materials from the best suppliers,” Khafaji told Arab News.

Her jewelry is made with natural diamonds and precious and semi-precious stones that she chooses to match her designs. She also pays special attention to the packaging of her pieces, which is part of the “Tebr experience.” “My biggest challenge was finding manufacturers who could help me convert my ideas to physical products while maintaining the elegance I aim for,” she said. Tebr has participated in numerous local and international jewelry exhibitions. However, the designer said she gets the most joy out of her work when she sees her customers talking about her products and wearing them with pride. “My biggest achievement was opening a Tebr atelier in Jeddah,” she said.

Khafaji explained the process behind her work: “It takes a lot of time and effort to launch a new collection at the right time. We start working on these months in advance. It is a long process to choose stones that are compatible with my designs, so to ensure perfection we make the demos before the pieces are released. Then we arrange photography sessions with the crew, and then comes social media advertising. But thankfully, it’s all worth it in the end.”


Producer Zainab Azizi hopes ‘Send Help’ will be a conversation starter

Updated 31 January 2026
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Producer Zainab Azizi hopes ‘Send Help’ will be a conversation starter

DUBAI: Afghan American film producer Zainab Azizi cannot wait for audiences to experience Sam Raimi’s new horror comedy “Send Help.”

In an interview with Arab News, the president at Raimi Productions kept returning throughout her interview to one central theme: the communal thrill of horror.

“I started watching horror from the age of six years old. So, it’s kind of ingrained in my brain to love it so much,” she said, before describing the formative ritual that still shapes her work: “What I loved about that was the experience of it, us cousins watching it with the lights off, holding hands, and just having a great time. And you know, as an adult, we experience that in the theater as well.”

Asked why she loves producing, Azizi was candid about the mix of creativity and competition that drives her. “I’m very competitive. So, my favorite part is getting the film sold,” she said. “I love developing stories and characters, and script, and my creative side gets really excited about that part, but what I get most excited about is when I bring it out to the marketplace, and then it becomes a bidding war, and that, to me, is when I know I’ve hit a home run.”

Azizi traced the origins of “Send Help” to a 2019 meeting with its writers. “In 2019 I met with the writers, Mark and Damien. I was a fan of their works. I’ve read many of their scripts and watched their films, and we hit it off, and we knew we wanted to make a movie together,” she said.

From their collaboration emerged a pitch built around “the story of Linda Little,” which they developed into “a full feature length pitch,” and then brought to Raimi. “We brought it to Sam Raimi to produce, and he loved it so much that he attached to direct it.”

On working with Raimi, Azizi praised his influence and the dynamic they share. “He is such a creative genius. So, it’s been an incredible mentorship. I learned so much from him,” she said, adding that their collaboration felt balanced: “We balance each other really well, because I have a lot of experience in packaging films and finding filmmakers, so I have a lot of freedom in the types of projects that I get to make.”

When asked what she hopes audiences will take from “Send Help,” Azizi returned to the communal aftermath that first drew her to horror: “I love the experience, the theatrical experience. I think when people watch the film, they take away so many different things. ... what I love from my experience on this film is, especially during test screenings, is after the film ... people are still thinking about it. Everybody has different opinions and outlooks on it. And I love that conversation piece of the film.”