São Paulo – Brazilian jewellery brand FR Hueb opened its second store in the Emirates last month, this time in Abu Dhabi, in Al Wahda Mall Extension. Since June last year, the company has had a point of sale in Dubai, at Souq Al Bahar. The second shop and showroom was inaugurated on the 15th, and counted on the presence of Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, who is the Minister of Culture, Youth and Social Affairs of the United Arab Emirates.
The company has a plant in Uberaba, in the state of Minas Gerais, and produces jewellery in gold, diamonds and Brazilian gems. The shops are geared to the consumer and sell to women all over the Gulf, as well as to tourists visiting the region. The brand representatives in the Arab country, Thiago Abdala, brand director and head of operations in the Middle East, and his wife, Priscilla Patto, who works in product creation, usually also attend trade shows in the region.
Members of the Abdala family, which owns the company, attended the opening of the second store in the Emirates, among them Fadua Hueb, Thiago’s grandmother, who started the family’s operation in the jewellery business, and Thiago’s parents, FR Hueb founder Rogério Abdala, and his wife, Cristina Abdala, creative director. The Abdalas are of Lebanese descent.
In the Middle East, the brand has partnered with Rosy Blue, a company that works with cutting and finishing diamond products. The company’s president, Harshad Mehta, and Executive Director, Rihen Mehta, were also at the opening of the store.
At the ceremony for inauguration of the unit in Abu Dhabi, there was a band playing Bossa Nova. According to FR Hueb, the music matches the jewellery, which is designed inspired on Bossa Nova rhythms, as well as on contemporary arts. High-quality raw materials are characteristic of the products made by the company, which produces and sells from gold rings to earrings and necklaces in gold, diamond, topaz and pearl, among others.
FR Hueb was established in 1987 and started exporting in 2000, to the United States. Before opening the store in Dubai, the company already sold to the Middle East. Just over two years ago, Thiago Abdala and Priscilla Patto moved to the Emirates and expanded the company’s business in the region.
*Translated by Mark Ament
