SBD member in the spotlight: Abdulla Dagher, founder of Boutique d’Anvers
For this edition of the newsletter, we interview Abdulla Dagher, who designed the Moon and Stars ring for the temporary exhibition Rings that Rock at the DIVA museum. As a member of the General Assembly of SBD and both a diamond manufacturer (Capital Diamonds) and jeweler (Boutique d’Anvers), he brings a unique perspective on the marquise diamond cut. SBD also congratulates DIVA on this beautiful exhibition.
“I grew up in the office,” says Abdulla. “I am a third-generation diamond dealer, my family having started the business in Africa, and my father moved permanently to Antwerp in 1982, and the rest of my family followed in 1984. I still remember my first day in Belgium very clearly, we arrived in the afternoon, and the next morning my father brought me straight to the office with him since I had not been enrolled in a local school yet.”
“Our office was in the Diacem Building on Vestingstraat, till the ADC Building (used to be called “the new Kring Building”) was built and we moved. Growing up I spent every Wednesday after school, vacations and sometimes after school at the office, always involved, always observing.”
“When I was at university, I took over the administration of the office, and from there it evolved naturally into working full time after I completed my masters degree. I first started selling rough for my father, then slowly moving into manufacturing, then into trading polished, and eventually into jewelry manufacturing, which opened a completely different perspective for me.”
As a jeweler, you sell a story and a feeling
“For the Rings That Rock exhibition at the DIVA museum, I felt a strong need to create something that was entirely my own, something that would reflect my own vision rather than translating someone else’s. You see, most of the time, when I create a piece, it is based on the imagination of the client, through discussions we arrive at a design that reflects them, there my role is to something that is technically feasible and aesthetically reflecting of their vision. But this ring was different, because it is entirely my own expression, and therefore when people look at it, they should see me in it.”
“I traveled to a lot of places like Hong Kong and Italy for work, and in those environments, when selling a stone, as a manufacturer you know that you have done something special to overcome some challenge or limitation that was inherent in the rough, but the client does not always see or understand that, and for commercial reasons one doesn’t explain what skill or ingenuity was used to maximise the value or hide defects in the stone, and so this part of the stone’s story is left behind with the polisher and manufacturer.”
“When I would walk around jewelry shows like in Vicenza, I would see my clients, the jewelers, presenting their collections, advertising the sort of creativity that a diamond manufacturer tends to keep hidden, revealing to the world their creations and saying ‘look how beautiful this is,’ and people react. The adrenaline of presenting at that ‘wow’ moment for a jeweler is kind of missing for a polisher. What always stayed with me, especially from visiting shows, was seeing jewelers present their creations and witnessing how clients react, you see their faces light up, their eyes shine, and I wanted to experience that as well, to be part of that emotional moment. I realized that as diamond manufacturers we don’t really have that; we sell light, but as a jeweler, you sell a story and a feeling. When we present a stone the narrative is look at the stone, not look what I have done to the stone.”
The Moon and Stars ring
“I did not want to create a ring that says ‘here I am,’ something loud or in your face, but rather something more subtle, something more layered.”
“The starting point was the marquise stone, which traditionally is set vertically, because that elongates the finger, but I chose to set it horizontally, which goes a bit against the grain: it is slightly rebellious, in a quiet subdued way.”
“I have always seen, maybe because of my personal obsession with the moon, a crescent shape in the crown of a marquise, always reminding me of the moon, frozen in a waxing crescent, the beginning of a new month, fixed forever at the excitement of the beginning, like the start of a new lunar cycle or the birth of a new love.”
“And once you see that moon, you cannot ignore the rest of the sky, you cannot have a moon without stars, so I felt I had no choice but to complete the image by adding the stars around it, the round brilliants creating that full night-sky composition.”
“The gold itself is brushed rather than polished. I wanted a matte finish that behaves like a night sky, where the brightest element is clearly the moon, followed by the stars, all set against a tamed gold sheen. The stone itself is set in a way that is not very in your face; it sits slightly deeper, it is a bit more hidden, and that is intentional. The work shouldn’t demand attention but attract it.”
“There was also a moment in the process where I spoke with friends and some of them asked me, ‘are you sure about this?’ but as with deciding how to cut a stone in designing a piece of jewelry there is the point where you simply decide to go for it, to commit fully to the idea, run with it, and finally present it. I think to truly like what you have created it should be something that reflects what is inside you. Universal beauty is in all of us and so I believe when someone prefers a different style to you, they would still recognise the beauty of a design reflecting a truth within.”
“This ring is not for someone who wants to say ‘look at me,’ but rather for someone who appreciates beauty, for someone whose strength and character are drawn from something internal. A ring, in my opinion, always reflects what is in your heart, it reflects something from the inside, and that is what I wanted to express here.”
“It is, in a way, like the difference between the moon and the sun: one does not need to scream to be present.”
© Sigrid Spinnox & DIVA
Why visit Rings that Rock?
In Rings That Rock, power, love and brilliance take centre stage, exploring the meaning and symbolism of diamond rings through the centuries.
“For SBD members in particular, I think it is important to visit, because most of us operate within the diamond business and not directly in jewelry, while in reality jewelers are our clients, and to truly understand them, we need to understand their world as well.”
“The jewelry industry is ultimately what gives meaning to what we do, because without it, we would not be here.”
“A visit to the exhibition would allow us to step outside of our bubble and to see other materials, other approaches; sapphires, rubies, silver, and to learn from them and gather ideas, just as they have from the diamond industry.”
Plan Your Visit
Abdulla warmly encourages all members to experience the exhibition in person:
Dates: 2 April – 8 November 2026
Location: DIVA museum, Suikerrui 17-19, 2000 Antwerp
