OFA by Hala Alasmari: Craft, Gold, & a Cultural Design Code

Nothing hits quite like watching Arab women creatives rise and reshape the industry with work that feels both personal and powerful. And while the regional jewellery scene grows more crowded by the season, Hala Alasmari stands apart for a different reason: her pieces aren’t designed to compete with the noise. They’re designed to outlast it. Thoughtfully made, culturally resonant, and rooted in a spirit of celebration.

An Architect’s Eye, Recast in Fine Jewellery

Before gold, there was structure. Hala Alasmari studied Architectural Design in Los Angeles, then trained in jewellery design at the International Gemological Institute (IGI), a background that shows in the way her pieces feel measured, deliberate, and beautifully spare in their use of proportion and negative space.

Yet discipline is never the whole story. With Hala, structure is always softened by meaning.

“Every design that I create has an emotional connect to where I come from, what I think or what I believe in,”

It’s what makes her work feel personal rather than purely aesthetic. Minimalism with a pulse, not minimalism for its own sake.

OFA Jewellery

OFA Jewellery is Hala Alasmari’s answer to modern fine jewellery. Clean, architectural pieces infused with cultural depth. Crafted in precious materials, the designs wear like a personal hallmark: understated in presence, but impossible to forget once they’ve caught your eye. It’s a house built on restraint, but never emptiness. Every curve is intentional, every detail edited. Jewellery that feels less like decoration, more like identity.

Minimal. Modern. Made to Hit.

OFA’s aesthetic is best described in Hala’s own words: “Elegant and modern… it creates impact.” The brand’s power is in its precision. Clean lines, contemporary geometry, and proportions that feel considered rather than excessive. This is visual restraint with a sharp finish. Pieces don’t need to be oversized to be seen. They’re engineered to catch the eye in quieter ways through silhouette, balance, and the confidence of simplicity.

Craft, Gold, and Ethical Stones

OFA is built with an obsessive respect for making, developed through close collaboration with expert artisans in Dubai and a focus on meticulous execution from sketch to final polish. Materials reinforce the message: 18K gold, ethically sourced stones, and craftsmanship treated as a design principle. Consistent, disciplined, and meant to live beyond trend cycles.

Saudi Symbolism as a Design Code

At the heart of OFA is a clear cultural conviction.

“I am 100-percent driven by where I come from and the symbolism of Saudi… I am representing it with my medium,”

That symbolism surfaces as refined motifs, most notably the Arabian sword, not presented literally, but abstracted into wearable power. In OFA’s hands, heritage isn’t performed; it’s distilled into forms you can wear daily like a personal emblem.

Key Collections

Etincelle: OFA’s First Spark

Etincelle is OFA’s opening statement, the collection where the brand’s codes first crystallise. Inspired by the Arabian sword, it translates strength into sleek, wearable form, while the name itself signals intent: a spark, the first flash of an idea becoming something enduring. It’s the chapter that introduces OFA’s founding iconography in its purest shape.

Foug | فوق: National Day in Gold

For Saudi National Day, Hala introduced ‘Foug | فوق’, a high jewellery line designed as a tribute to Saudi heritage while embracing contemporary aesthetics. The collection’s green tones nod to the Saudi flag, while “foug” is tied to optimism and even childhood memory, partly inspired by a song associated with Saudi singer Mohammed Abdu, where the word is drawn out in a grand, nostalgic opening.

Apogée: A Five-Year Peak

In celebration of OFA’s fifth anniversary, Hala presented Apogée, a collection that carries the house codes “now reaching new heights”. The brand describes the forms as bolder and sculptural, crafted in 18K gold and pavé-set with natural mined diamonds.

Even the campaign credits feel fashion-forward: directed by Nour Bou Ezz and shot by Amer Mohamad, capturing the “monumental spirit” and “bold femininity” OFA wants to embody.

OFA Steps into Riyadh Fashion Week

In October, OFA marked its presence at Riyadh Fashion Week, signaling a brand moving beyond the boutique whisper into a bigger cultural conversation where jewellery isn’t an accessory, but part of the total silhouette. It’s the kind of milestone that feels natural for a house built on clean lines and Saudi-coded confidence. Understated, yes, but fully ready for the front row.

Apogée Eyewear: OFA’s Signature, Reframed

As part of Apogée, OFA extends its design universe into eyewear, a natural evolution of the collection’s elevated mood. The line plays with multiple premium silhouettes (from sharper, architectural profiles to softer, more rounded shapes), each finished with a polished, fashion-forward restraint that feels distinctly OFA.

And it’s not just about shape, it’s about sensibility. The pieces are designed with a luxury feel and high-quality lenses, delivering that same “edited perfection” the house is known for, only now expressed through frames instead of gold.

OFA’s Kind of Future is Already Here

Hala Alasmari’s genius is that she doesn’t design “statements” for the sake of being seen. She designs the kind of pieces you reach for without thinking, until you realize they’ve been saying something about you all along. And that’s the real strength. The work doesn’t demand attention. It earns trust through comfort, craftsmanship, and a design discipline that holds up in daily life.

Follow ZiiMag as we spotlight more visionaries rewriting the future of Arab fashion.