99 Studios: Revitalising Maldivian Culture Through Affordable Jewellery
99 Studios creates its own line of accessories with a unique style and provides affordable luxury to the community. Mahuroos Ismail Shafeeq, also known as Mahu, has gained years of skills and knowledge in the field of art and design.
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His brand's target is to regenerate our culture and heritage elements that have been forgotten or will be soon forgotten in 30 years. 99 Studios seeks to modernise and revitalise these pieces of Maldivian history into today’s culture.
Mahu is a 25-year-old visual artist, writer, graphic designer and interior designer from the Maldives. He studies an art and design foundation course in the Maldives for a year and then moved to Sri Lanka to earn a degree in Interior Design. Eventually, he moved back to the Maldives to actively pursue a professional design career.
He started 99 Studios with the purpose of starting his own line of accessory products and reviving Maldivian cultural elements that are being forgotten. He also wants to build his own community within this community and tell their stories. Mahu believes that there are so many talented people that need their voices to be heard. With that in mind, he recently started ’99 Featured Stories.’
In the beginning, Mahu didn’t have any investors to fund his business. So, his sister collaborated on a project with him on a trial basis to understand the market. Through this experience, Mahu learns a lot about the business and worked 2 jobs to fund the first piece of jewellery.
To make the Scalloped Laari Pendant, he went to local jewellery makers to make it, but it was impossible because of the way he had envisioned it. He believes in creating quality products and tried to find and create the products locally, but they didn’t fit the target and it was too expensive. His target was to provide high-quality products as an affordable luxury, which was also inclusive.
Mahu explored international factories for 1 year by studying the market, production, and factories. The following year, he managed to create the product.
The process of creating the Scalloped Laari Pendant was not easy. It was mentally draining and frustrating, but patience was what pulled him through. He wasn’t ready to release it without it being close to what he envisioned.
Currently, Mahu works at 99 Studios on a part-time basis. He is very passionate about his brand. He aims to grow the business so that he can finally work on a full-time basis.
Mahu believes that there are a lot of things that the government can do to help businesses. There are a lot of young and talented designers but there aren’t given much recognition or opportunities. The government should provide more opportunities for them to broadcast their talent.
