We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Maleeha Elsadr a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Maleeha, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

I worked at a large jewelry chain’s repair shop for several years in my 20s. The pay was better than anything else I had available to me, and it felt good to be doing something in a field that was somewhat related to my degree in fine art. I also had tons of opportunities to learn in a way that allowed me to make mistakes that I didn’t have to pay for–which is huge when you’re working with gold and diamonds. Learning how hot I could could heat a stone before discoloring it, or how hard I could press a diamond before it shattered gave me a tacit knowledge of my craft that otherwise wouldn’t have been available to me, and it has proved to be very useful. I also was able to source tools at a discount and begin building my own studio.

Working a job like that didn’t leave much bandwidth for creativity, or even general wellness. I was doing very similar, if not the same tasks over and over, 40-50 hours per week. My body and mind suffered, and while I had the privilege of financial security, my soul missed the quiet and unrushed wading into the creative stream where I could tap into the emotions and symbolism that inspired my artwork.

I tried to quit a couple times, over a couple years. The first time I didn’t have a plan, and ended up having to go back after taking some interesting side jobs repairing antique arms and traveling in a coffee truck to be a barista at music festivals. The second time I also didn’t have a plan, and while I don’t recommend this, I quit 2 weeks before the Christmas rush, ensuring that I would never be rehired. This was the first of a string of decisions that, viewed from the outside, appeared to be destabilizing my life. In reality, this was a risky process of trial and error to figure out how I could maintain an income while conserving my creative energy.

I finally made friends with a painter who had achieved some success doing art fairs for several years since graduating high school. She made enough money to pay her bills, and enjoyed the thrill of traveling and jumping into new situations. I had never considered art fairs, but as our friendship grew and I shared my dreams with her, she cautiously encouraged me to give it a shot.

I spent my savings on materials, a tent, and some tables, made a bunch of jewelry, and was ready to dive into a busy summer of art fairs when the pandemic hit. I spent lockdown regrouping, then did a couple dud shows in 2021. I knew it was a matter of perseverance, though, and applied for a bunch of shows for the 2022 season. I used a credit card to pay my booth fees, and found I made at least a small profit at every show I did. I have met many artists that have been very generous with their experiences and advice, recommending specific shows and giving me insight on what larger risks I might want to take as I grow.

I am finding that forging my own path in this way can be simplified as taking a series of progressively larger risks. As I make the leaps, I learn more about myself, and what I am capable of. As I see what I am capable of, I trust myself more, and the risks are not quite so terrifying; they feel more exciting and empowering.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I’m Maleeha, the owner, designer, and maker of Maleeha Jewelry.

I have always been a maker. In the early days it was scraps of fabric, found objects, and safety pins to adorn my backpack while listening to Harry Potter on tape. (fr, on tape. Goblet of Fire was 12 cassettes.)

When I was a young teenager, my family moved from Dearborn, MI to Beirut, Lebanon. The rich history of the land and the pride my resilient people take in it made a lasting impact. Standing in a bazaar that people have been trading in for thousands of years and over several empires, tromping around along the Mediterranean, finding shards of pottery in Roman aqueducts, and discussing my family tree that has been followed closely for dozens of generations (a massive privilege that I don’t take lightly) are all experiences I hold very close to my heart. These are the places where some of the current themes of my jewelry began to form.

The Islamic Golden Age became particularly interesting to me, scientists and philosophers translating and saving the knowledge of previous empires because The Quran valued the seeking of knowledge and the development of science. This was in stark contrast to the Islamophobia of post-9/11 USA.

Devastatingly, in 2006 Lebanon became unstable. I am privileged to have been able to leave at all, let alone in one piece.

Back in the USA, another element began to enter my aesthetic. I’d drive around the Ford Rouge steel plant and marvel at the massive structures, the thrilling buzz of the power plant, the impossibly blue flame that roared over my favorite smokestack. I was drawn to Detroit’s dark, industrial nightclubs where I found the magic of dancing as meditation… and where I could just be a freak lol

I received a BA in fine art at Western Michigan University, where I spent a lot of time in the jewelry studio. After graduating, I did all sorts of things to make money. I was a cook, a substitute teacher, an assistant at a flower shop, a nomadic barista at music festivals, a landlord, a secretary, a jewelry polisher, a repair jeweler, an antique arms repair technician, a server, a caregiver… I’m sure I’m forgetting some. All the while collecting tools and building out my own jewelry studio.

I finally took the plunge in late 2019, regrouped over lockdown, and began showing my jewelry at art shows in 2021. I wouldn’t be where I am without the support of friends and family, and the privileges of time, space, and therapy. Every day is more magical and serendipitous than the last.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

At my job working in the repair shop of a huge jewelry chain, I was expected to do a certain amount of repairs to maintain my pay grade, and keep the shop running smoothly. This really influenced my process when I first got back to making jewelry in my own shop. I put all this pressure on myself during the design process to consider how each component of my jewelry would be produced by employees later, and it really got in the way of thinking creatively and playing with ideas and aesthetics. After my first round of production I was burnt out, and not sure I was even doing what I wanted to be doing anymore.

It took a bit of trial and error, but I found a way to work in stages that allows me to enjoy the production process far more. The first stage is all about playing. I’ll make sketches and play with scraps from former projects, making one piece at a time in a very low-pressure mindset. This stage is all about exploring the way the objects look and feel, what components sound like clinking against each other and what all the shapes symbolize for me. Ideally I’ll have a couple weeks to splash around in this mindset before taking a close look at all of the pieces I’ve created, and deciding which are my favorite, which could use small changes to their design, which will need several size options, and which are realistic to make in batches. Once I have that figured out I go into phase two of production, where I bang out a bunch of pieces. It’s a much more sustainable system for me, and I get the best of both worlds: the play and creativity that I’m passionate about, and the power-through-dance-mode that’s satisfying in a totally different way.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media has been a mystery to me, but I’ve had a bit of success on Tiktok. I think part of this is because video is what people are hungry for at this point in the evolution of social media. Another part is, I truly enjoy editing video to capture a certain feel and I think that comes through. I consume a lot of video content in my free time–mostly long-form ASMR mass production videos on YouTube. It’s been something that helps me relax and unwind my brain, and I really got hooked through the pandemic. Having seen so much of this type of content, and because I find it so helpful myself, I have a general idea of what I’m looking for in my videos. Learning to execute that vision took a while, and I’m still a novice, but that’s why Tiktok is so great in my opinion, people want to see the real, behind-the-scenes stuff. So it doesn’t have to be perfectly edited to succeed.

The most important thing I think I did was start posting. I was really uncomfortable with and distracted by the camera at first, but with time (and managing my anxiety!) I began to forget about it, and think about making these videos as a way to communicate something. My mindset became, “How do I communicate this in the most accessible way, in the least amount of time?” Sometimes that means I simply explain something right to the camera as if I were explaining to an interested friend. Sometimes it means I’m filming a snippet of each step in my process.

This is going to look different for everyone, but if I had any advice for those just starting out it would be to just start posting! We love to see a glow-up. Some of my earlier videos are super cringe, but it’s a relatable part of my story and I think it shows people that I’m a real human just figuring this stuff out. I also think it’s important to offer some value for free, so in my videos I’m either explaining a process I think is interesting, creating an ASMR type feel with the audio and visuals that will help others relax and wind down, or showing people (specifically femme-presenting people) the sometimes embarrassing and annoying process of figuring out how to do something myself, even if it scares or overwhelms me. So find a way to give some value for free and just start posting!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://maleehajewelry.com
• Instagram: @maleehajewelry
• Other: tiktok: @maleehajewelry

Image Credits
Maleeha Elsadr