To celebrate the launch of ŞENER BESIM's jewellery collection at TNT, we sat down with Şener and Kelly Besim to discuss their design philosophy, creative process and the next evolution for the brand.
ŞENER BESIM jewellery is defined by architecture, heritage, and quiet luxury. Drawing on a fascination with metaphysics, the designs distill complex geometry into minimal forms that balance strength and stillness. Each piece is crafted with precision from precious metals and stones, designed as modern heirlooms that transcend trends.
ŞENER BESIM has such a distinct design identity. What is the story behind the brand, and what first inspired you to start it?
ŞENER BESIM emerged from a long-standing preoccupation with our heritage, minimalist design and permanence and what we choose to keep close to the body, and why. The brand began less as a commercial idea and more as an inquiry into jewellery and objects as a form of lived language: intimate, continuous, and quietly declarative.
There was a desire to move away from jewellery as ornament in the traditional sense, and instead position it as something closer to architecture at a micro-scale, structural, intentional and emotional. The earliest pieces were informed by restraint rather than excess, with a focus on proportion and wear as an ongoing state rather than a moment of occasion.
How would you describe your design philosophy, and what influences your aesthetic?
The philosophy is anchored in reduction; removing everything that does not serve clarity, balance, or longevity. We're interested in design that holds its authority through precision rather than decoration. Aesthetic influence sits across multiple disciplines: Şener's Albanian & Turkish background, modernist architecture, industrial design, and the quiet logic of engineered objects. There is also a strong interest in how materials age - how gold, for example, develops a patina that is not deterioration but record-keeping. The goal is always to create pieces that feel inevitable rather than imposed.
Buildable and permanent jewellery sits at the core of your practice. What draws you to these concepts, and why do they resonate now?
There is a cultural shift away from accumulation toward continuity. Buildable and permanent jewellery speaks to that change - it allows adornment to exist as an evolving system rather than a fixed object. Permanent jewellery, in particular, introduces a different register of meaning. It removes the notion of removal itself. What remains is a subtle but significant gesture of commitment - whether to self, a moment or relationship. In an increasingly transient visual culture, that sense of continuity feels almost countercultural, which is precisely why it resonates.
When someone is creating a custom piece with you, how do you guide them to make it feel truly personal?
The process begins with listening rather than designing. We're interested in the underlying intention - what the piece is meant to hold, signify, or mark. From there, the role becomes one of editing and refinement.
Personalisation is not about excess detail; it’s about precision of meaning. Often, the most successful pieces are those where everything unnecessary has been removed, leaving only proportion, materiality, and intent. The outcome should feel inevitable to the wearer, as though it was always theirs.
How important is the in-person experience in jewellery, particularly with custom and permanent pieces?
It is fundamental. Jewellery exists in relation to the body, and that relationship cannot be fully understood through distance. The in-person experience allows for scale, weight, and movement to be understood in real time. With permanent jewellery in particular, the act of creation becomes part of the object itself. The moment of fitting or welding is not incidental - it is formative. It embeds memory into the piece in a way that cannot be replicated digitally. That imprint is often what gives the work its emotional longevity.
Looking ahead, how do you see jewellery evolving as a form of self-expression, and where do you want to take ŞENER BESIM next?
Jewellery is shifting away from static symbolism toward something more fluid and autobiographical. It is becoming less about statement and more about system - how pieces accumulate meaning over time, and how they interact with one another on the body.
For ŞENER BESIM, the focus moving forward is refinement rather than expansion. Deepening the language of buildable systems, reinforcing our design language, exploring permanence in more nuanced ways, and continuing to strip design back to its essential logic. The ambition is not scale for its own sake, but coherence - creating products that feel resolved, considered, and enduring.
