Kinship Stories: Yasmine Dabbous’ Archive of Adornment
What does it mean to inherit a piece of material culture? A necklace, a bead or a fragment of embroidery may appear to be a small object, yet each can contain traces of the people and places that shaped it. For Yasmine Dabbous, founder of Kinship Stories, these fragments are not remnants of the past but living records, waiting to be understood.
This week, we are delighted to share the creative journey of Kinship Stories, now featured in the Selvedge Artisan Goods shop. Founded by Beirut-born fibre artist and cultural historian Dabbous, the jewellery practice explores the relationship between adornment and memory, creating one-of-a-kind necklaces from vintage and antique materials gathered across five continents.
Hmong ceremony necklace, Kinship Stories.
Working from her studio in Lebanon, Dabbous brings together silver, beads, textiles and found elements, many of which carry the marks of age and previous lives. Rather than treating these materials as decorative objects, she approaches them as cultural evidence: fragments that reveal something about the communities, traditions and makers who shaped them.
With a PhD in Cultural History, Dabbous’ approach to jewellery-making is rooted in research as much as design. Each component is carefully chosen for the story it holds, creating compositions that connect different places and periods through a shared language of craft. The resulting pieces feel both deeply historical and entirely contemporary.
Yemen Blues necklace, Kinship Stories
Every necklace is assembled by hand and accompanied by a certificate of provenance, tracing the origins of its materials and acknowledging the many hands involved in their journey. The irregularities of antique silver, the faded colours of old textiles and the natural changes brought by time all contribute to each piece’s individuality.
Through Kinship Stories, Dabbous creates adornments that become portable archives, preserving fragments of human experience while allowing them to take on new meaning.
Take five minutes to meet Yasmine Dabbous and discover the stories behind Kinship Stories:
Five Minutes with a Friend: Yasmine Dabbous, Kinship Stories
Yasmine Dabbous, founder of Kinship Stories
Yasmine, what is your earliest memory of a textile?
When we are born, we are wrapped with textiles around our frail, freezing bodies. This happens to all babies everywhere, anywhere. I cannot pretend that I remember this moment lucidly, but I am sure this explains why I (and other fellow humans) find intuitive comfort in the tactility of fabric.
Contemporary Square Knots necklace, Kinship Stories
How would you describe what draws you to textiles and the world of making?
I believe that, in a world of super speed, digital alienation and stress, textile making presents such a welcome antithesis; such a beautiful antidote to everything that makes us feel tired, alone and tense. For me, embroidery, weaving and other textile crafts are truly a refuge.
Textiles are also, quite literally, a “text.” They carry human narratives, memories and cultural values in the same way writing does -but with more colours. As a former journalist, I am bound to just LOVE this.
If you create textiles, where do you feel most inspired to work?
In my studio, at home. For sure. I always have my favourite show (usually related to forensics), a peaceful Holy Quran recitation, or French music when I work.
A glimpse of the studio table at Kinship Stories
What has sparked your imagination or inspired you recently?
I am always inspired by stories: Personal stories, news stories, historical narratives. I guess that the journalist in me is still alive. She just has found more beautiful ways of telling these stories.
What is your most treasured textile, and what story does it carry?
It is hard to choose. But, I think that my most treasured textile is an antique Palestinian headpiece I found in Amman, Jordan. The headpiece is gorgeously colourful and perfectly embroidered. It has many Ottoman coins attached to it. This is indicative of a custom most Bedouin women followed: attaching their riches on their bodies to protect them, but also to show them off.
The headpiece also has a kind of woven hay support that falls right at the top of the head, and where the woman could place her water jar and other things she carried. When I look at this piece, I can clearly see a Bedouin woman from the end of the 19th century, walking on the streets of Palestine, living her daily life, unaware that one day, another woman from a completely different time will own her headdress.
Green Wedding necklace, Kinship Stories
Where did you first learn your craft, and who shaped your early approach to making?
I have been collecting tribal fabrics almost intuitively since I was an adolescent but I only started embroidering them into necklaces in 2012. I am self-taught. Everything I do I learned through trial and error.
Weaving is a different story. I took two classes at FIT after I decided to stop teaching journalism at the American University of Beirut and chose to make the move to the world of design.
Is there a piece of music you return to while you work, that sets the rhythm of your making?
Yes. As I mentioned before, I like to listen to Quran recitation or French oldies like Joe Dassin and Charles Aznavour.
Inspirations in the studio at Kinship Stories
What material or technique are you currently experimenting with or curious to explore further?
I am currently exploring natural dyeing and flower pounding techniques, and hoping to integrate this into my work .
If you could collaborate with any maker—past or present—who would it be, and why?
Injiri of India. I believe that we align in many ways, both in terms of aesthetic and in terms of vision. I could make jewellery to go with their spectacular apparel. Also, Mukhi Sisters of Lebanon. They do beautiful, emotional fine jewellery and I feel that there is enormous potential in the marriage of textile and high-end jewels.
What does a perfect day of making look like for you?
Sitting all day, in my pyjamas, and embroidering til the sun sets.
Thank you, Yasmine, for giving us a glimpse into the world behind Kinship Stories.
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Further Information:
Find Kinship Stories on the Selvedge Artisan Goods shop
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Image Credits:
Lead: Kinship Stories, Ottoman Flowers necklace.
All further images as credited in captions.