Ami Doshi Shah

Kenyan designer Ami Doshi Shah brings together her Kenyan upbringing and Indian heritage in crafting her eponymous jewellery label. Her pieces are often recognized for their striking sculptural nature; an experimentation of lines, shapes and natural materials lie at the core of her process.

Prior to founding her line in 2013, Shah trained as a jeweler and silversmith at the Birmingham School of Art & Design in the U.K., and was the recipient of the prestigious Goldsmith’s award for Best Apprentice Designer. She soon went on to receive FA254’s African Designers For Tomorrow award in 2015, where she was one of ten designers selected by an international jury chaired by Vogue Germany chief editor, Christiane Arp. She was also one of 5 African designers who exhibited at the British Fashion Council’s International Fashion Showcase in 2019.

Shah sources all materials locally, and uses her technical training to manipulate elements of raw materials—consisting of metals and minerals—to create an unexpected marriage of color, texture and form. The results of her efforts are somewhat poetic, and can be seen extended across her collection of earrings, necklaces and bracelets, most notably the polished brass Torque necklaces that has become the brand’s signature Speaking to Design Indaba, Shah explained her approach to crafting these wearable art pieces: “It’s this idea of an object having a home on the body and that object taking on a very different character when it actually sits on the body.”