Section

The trade's words

Khit errouh, zerouf, mdamma, mqias: the same jewel changes name from one region to the next. And fontizi, blakiour, strass, zircon: what the words for the material actually mean.

Drawn illustration: two overlapping marquise shapes on a white plate, one filled flat gold, the other flat neutral grey for the base metal, the overlap left as bare pearl ground, with a single green hairline running through both.

The trade's wordsGlossary

Rhinestone, cubic zirconia, plated brass: what bridal jewellery is made of

What the Algerian trade means by fontizi and blakiour, how a glass rhinestone differs from lab-grown cubic zirconia, and why plated pieces carry no hallmark.

Tasdira · The counter3 September 20265 min read

Drawn illustration: a white plate ruled into three columns by fine grey lines — Arabic script, Latin transliteration, shop name — with a marquise aperture cut clean through the middle column so the pearl ground shows at the exact point where the object would be named; deep green rules at the head of the columns, a gold bar down the right edge.

The trade's wordsGlossary

Algerian bridal jewellery names: mahzma, khelkhal, meskia, skhab

One object, three names that share no letters: the trade word, the Arabic spelling and the shop name for every piece of the Algerian bride’s parure.

Tasdira · The counter2 September 20265 min read