“The main idea is wear your accessories and have fun,” says Sana Al-Amin, the founder of Mojo Beads, the brand known for its colourful beaded bracelets, necklaces and phone decorations.
She is of Iraqi heritage and lives in the UK, where she created her company to "embrace fun and joy".
Mojo Beads' products come in an array of colours and are often adorned with smiley faces. Gathered into playful combinations, and with names such as Endless Love, Happy and La La Land, they add a cheery dash into even the dreariest of days.
Unsurprisingly, the products are growing in popularity on social media. DJ Tala Samman, a blogger in Dubai, has been spotted wearing them, as has Zeynab El-Helw, founder of Dubai organic clothing company Reborn, and fashion designer Dina Zahran, one half of the UAE label Dinz Sisters.
Lebanese fashion designer Dalida Ayach is also a fan and so is Katie Piper, founder of the Katie Piper Foundation, which helps survivors of scars and burns.
While the beads seem ready-made for Instagram success, turning Mojo Beads into a business happened almost by accident. With strong links to the UAE through friends and family, Al-Amin keeps an eye on what is trending and in 2019, noticed a new craze for cross-body bead chains. When one arrived as a gift from a friend, she was disappointed at its low quality.
“[My friend] paid so much and it snapped within seconds. It was heartbreaking,” she says.
Al-Amin set about making her own version, first as a lanyard-style necklace, then as a bracelet. Friends soon began asking for a copy.
“I said: 'Sure, I will make you one, but listen, I am not selling these, so please don’t ask me to make more.'”
Within weeks Al-Amin was making beads for all her friends, who urged her to start selling the bracelets on Etsy and Instagram, where the pieces gained immediate attention. To set her designs apart, she knew she had to be her own harshest critic.
“I thought if I am going to make this into a brand, I need to make it something that I myself would buy. I would never make anything that wasn’t up to standard," she says.
As for the pick-me-up appeal of her designs, Al-Amin’s inspiration comes from the beads themselves. “I love colour, it is everything to me. My aesthetic comes from the 1990s, the Y2K vibes, this is me, this is my generation," she says. "That’s what the brand is about. Eye-catching and inviting.”
Perhaps surprisingly for a millennial, Al-Amin has no interest in putting her face to the brand, and instead prefers to stay very much behind the scenes, making each piece at home, by hand.
But the slow process comes at a price. When Mojo Beads launched, customers were able to personalise pieces with initials. Now, as demand has soared, that option has had to be reluctantly removed, just to keep up with orders.
“It meant that every piece was made-to-order and I found that I was up until 6am. I would realise the time, have a coffee and continue with the school run. I have done that so many times," she says.
Yet, despite the gruelling hours behind it all, Mojo Beads is focused on being resolutely upbeat, which is reflected in the name itself.
“The name came about from Austin Powers. I love Mike Myers, he is just my cup of tea and so funny. He always used to say 'I want my mojo back', and for me, I wanted my mojo," she says.
Part of that sense of fun has been translated into versatility, with Al-Amin ensuring many pieces can be worn several ways, “especially the phone chains", she explains. “They come with lobster clasps so they can taken off and worn as a choker, or as a key chain.”
As the company has grown, Al-Amin has enlisted her niece Soleen Al-Ani to help out.
“She is in her mid-twenties, is very tech savvy and is wonderful,” Al-Amin says. “She has really helped the business.”
Together they are now shipping pieces all over the world, and Al-Amin attributes part of that success to being affordable. Starting at just £14 (Dh80) for the I’m A Cutie anklet, rising to £78 (Dh349) for the BFF phone chain set of two matching chains, Mojo Beads aims to be a treat that won’t break the bank.
And, to make sure everything retains a sense of personal fun, Al-Amin even handmakes the envelopes the pieces are sold in.
“I make all the packaging at home. It comes in a nice gold envelope, like Willy Wonka, so it feels like you have won something. For me, that’s important," she says.
“I call it being Mojo-fied. You have been Mojo-ed. I know it sounds a bit silly, a little beaded brand, but for me it’s a passion that grew into a business. Sometimes I have to pinch myself.”
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The biog
Age: 23
Occupation: Founder of the Studio, formerly an analyst at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi
Education: Bachelor of science in industrial engineering
Favourite hobby: playing the piano
Favourite quote: "There is a key to every door and a dawn to every dark night"
Family: Married and with a daughter
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The Bio
Favourite place in UAE: Al Rams pearling village
What one book should everyone read: Any book written before electricity was invented. When a writer willingly worked under candlelight, you know he/she had a real passion for their craft
Your favourite type of pearl: All of them. No pearl looks the same and each carries its own unique characteristics, like humans
Best time to swim in the sea: When there is enough light to see beneath the surface
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
RESULTS
6.30pm Handicap (TB) US$65,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
Winner Golden Goal, Pat Dobbs (jockey), Doug Watson (trainer)
7.05pm Dubai Racing Club Classic Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (Turf) 2,410m
Winner: Walton Street, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.
7.40pm Dubai Stakes Group 3 (TB) $130,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner Switzerland, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
8.15pm Singspiel Stakes Group 3 (TB) $163,000 (T) 1,800m
Winner Lord Giltters, Adrie de Vries, David O’Meara
8.50pm Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 (TB) $228,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner Military Law, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi.
9.25pm Al Fahidi Fort Group 2 (TB) $163,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner Land Of Legends, Frankie Dettori, Saeed bin Suroor
10pm Dubai Dash Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (T) 1,000m
Winner Equilateral, Frankie Dettori, Charles Hills.
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Brief scoreline:
Liverpool 2
Keita 5', Firmino 26'
Porto 0
MATCH INFO
Fixture: Ukraine v Portugal, Monday, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: BeIN Sports
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
Scoreline
Swansea 2
Grimes 20' (pen), Celina, 29'
Man City 3
Silva 69', Nordfeldt 78' (og), Aguero 88'
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 582bhp
Torque: 730Nm
Price: Dh649,000
On sale: now
The biog
Name: Fareed Lafta
Age: 40
From: Baghdad, Iraq
Mission: Promote world peace
Favourite poet: Al Mutanabbi
Role models: His parents
Read more about the coronavirus
'Project Power'
Stars: Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dominique Fishback
Director: Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman
Rating: 3.5/5
'Unrivaled: Why America Will Remain the World’s Sole Superpower'
Michael Beckley, Cornell Press
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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Company%20Profile
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More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Planes grounded by coronavirus
British Airways: Cancels all direct flights to and from mainland China
Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific: Cutting capacity to/from mainland China by 50 per cent from Jan. 30
Chicago-based United Airlines: Reducing flights to Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong
Ai Seoul: Suspended all flights to China
Finnair: Suspending flights to Nanjing and Beijing Daxing until the end of March
Indonesia's Lion Air: Suspending all flights to China from February
South Korea's Asiana Airlines, Jeju Air and Jin Air: Suspend all flights
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
The specs: 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV
Price, base: Dh138,000 (estimate)
Engine: 60kWh battery
Transmission: Single-speed Electronic Precision Shift
Power: 204hp
Torque: 360Nm
Range: 520km (claimed)
Punchy appearance
Roars of support buoyed Mr Johnson in an extremely confident and combative appearance
Company%20profile
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