Today we’d like to introduce you to Rita Kiameh.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I grew up surrounded by the beauty of the Mediterranean — my family’s Phoenician heritage was always present in the way we dressed, decorated our homes, and told stories. Jewelry was never just an accessory in our culture. It was a memory. It was identity.
After my mother passed away, I gained a clearer sense of what truly mattered. I kept returning to her: the pieces she wore, her connection to heritage, and the meaningful items she left behind. That loss became the inspiration for Menzaman.
I studied at the New York Institute of Technology and trained as a certified bench jeweler, learning both design and craftsmanship. When I chose to create my own brand, I wanted it to reflect the same sense of meaning my mother embodied. Menzaman, meaning “from another time” in Arabic, was the only name that felt authentic.
I launched the brand in Memphis, Tennessee, as a women-owned, handcrafted jewelry line. Each collection is inspired by Phoenician history, ancient coins, and Mediterranean botanicals—elements with depth and origin. I personally source gemstones during my travels and craft each piece by hand, ensuring the story is embedded in every object.
Today, Menzaman is expanding into wholesale, new collections, and broader conversations about heritage and craft. However, the core remains unchanged: I create lasting pieces for women who value meaningful jewelry.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Smooth? Not even close.
I’ve spent most of my life starting over. I moved from city to city to earn my medical degree, uprooted from everything familiar and separated from my family for long stretches. Then I moved to the United States to build a new life entirely: a new country, a new culture, a new family of my own. I arrived as a stranger. No network, no shortcuts, no one handing me anything.
Starting Menzaman from that place — with no local roots, no industry connections, no blueprint — required a kind of stubbornness I didn’t know I had. There were people who doubted it quietly, and some who doubted it out loud. The unspoken message was clear: who do you think you are?
The financial pressure was real. Building a handcrafted jewelry brand means investing in quality materials, ethical sourcing, and skilled labor — before a single sale is made. Finding honest, talented people to trust with your creative vision is harder than it sounds. I’ve learned that lesson more than once.
But the hardest part was internal. The doubt you carry when you’re doing something alone, with no guarantee it works, in a place where nobody knows your name yet. You have to decide, over and over again, that the work matters — even before the world agrees.
I kept going because I had something to prove to myself, and something to honor in my mother. That combination turned out to be enough.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a jewelry designer and certified bench jeweler, which means I don’t just design — I make. There are two workbenches in my studio: one dedicated to sterling silver and gold work for specialty projects like historical coin settings and custom orders . The second for all other metal work.. That separation is intentional because every material deserves its own attention.
Menzaman specializes in handcrafted heritage jewelry rooted in Phoenician and Mediterranean history. What makes the Phoenician heritage such a rich creative source is that it was never one thing — it was a crossroads of cultures, a civilization built on trade, exchange, and connection across the ancient world. That multiplicity lives in the work. I draw from coins, botanical forms, ancient symbols, and architectural details — the collection never looks the same twice because the heritage itself never was.
I work in sterling silver, gold-filled metals, and brass. My freeform pieces are crafted in brass and finished with 18K gold plating at 1 micron thickness. Gemstones are ethically sourced through my travels.
What I’m most proud of is that everything is genuinely handmade, from concept to finished piece. In a market flooded with mass-produced jewelry dressed up as artisan, that distinction matters deeply. What sets Menzaman apart is the combination of cultural specificity, real bench craft, and a refusal to be generic. There’s nothing else quite like it in this market.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Stubbornness; the quiet, disciplined kind.
Not the refusal to learn or evolve, but the refusal to quit when things are hard, when doubt creeps in, when the path forward isn’t clear. I’ve rebuilt my life more than once in more than one country. That kind of experience either breaks you or teaches you how to be unmovable when it matters.
In business, that translates to standards. I won’t compromise on materials, on craft, on the story behind a piece. It would be easier and more profitable in the short term to cut corners — cheaper metals, faster production, trend-chasing designs. I’ve never been willing to do that, and I think customers sense it.
The other characteristic is curiosity. I travel to source stones. I study ancient civilizations for design inspiration. I keep learning the craft. A creative business dies the moment the person running it stops being genuinely interested in the world. I never want to lose that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.menzamanjewelry.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/menzamanjewelry
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/menzamanleb/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/menzmanjewelry2017
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/menzamanjewelry/
Image Credits
Jenny Bailey
Maggie Ann Otto
