A LONG WAY FROM CAIRO By Melissa Walsh Photos Yanni
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hen you grow up in a family of jewellers, surrounded by precious gems, blocks of gold and creativity, it’s a fairly safe bet that the craft might be in the blood. This is absolutely the case for Egyptian born Samir Soleman, a jeweller in the true sense of the word and owner of the aptly named Jewel of the Nile in Tyabb. As an artisan and one of the few real handcrafting jewellers, Samir (or Sam as he prefers to be called), still creates all of his jewellery by hand just the way he learnt as an 11 year old working in his father’s jewellery business in Cairo 50 years ago. “I wanted to make jewellery with my dad rather than go to school and I spent many hours just sitting there and working, learning the trade and doing everything by hand,” said Sam as he reminisces from his showroom in Tyabb, surrounded by the
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wonderful pieces of handcrafted jewellery he has on display. “We were living in Cairo and it was my dad’s business called Jewel of the Nile. My grandfather was also a jeweller, along with my uncle, cousins, nieces and sisters.” How this talented artisan ended up 14,000 kilometres away from his homeland and on the Mornington Peninsula is a wonderful journey and the people of the peninsula have embraced the talents of Sam over the past 30 years with thousands of regular clients entrusting their precious jewels and gold to him. “I came to Australia as I thought it was a good opportunity for a better life. I was 21 when I came here and was looking for something new,” said Sam, who found a home in Melbourne in 1977. “I could continued next page...