bedouin silver
Personal adornment from the Middle East & North Africa learn about jewellery in easy online courses!download your free ebook on amulets & jewelleryDo your eyes light up when you see traditional jewellery and personal adornment from North Africa and the Middle East? How would it make you feel to know that loving jewellery is not just a passion, but contributes to an even greater goal? Discover it all on this website! Browse the fabulous jewellery blog with everything from the power of amulets to practical tips on organizing your collection, or check out the free e-books and other downloads waiting for you. And you will love the online courses on all things jewellery from North Africa and the Middle East – the only jewellery courses of their kind in the world!
Hello! I am Sigrid van Roode, and I believe personal adornment is more than adornment only. It is heritage. It tells us about the lives of women in the way that no history book does. But this heritage and its stories are disappearing fast. You will find jewellery for sale as ethnic jewelry, tribal jewellery or maybe even bellydance jewellery. But where to find its stories…? I study jewellery to retrieve the histories of women before they are forgotten. And I share the beautiful world of jewellery in a way you will not find anywhere else: all to help you read your jewellery like a book – and to love it even more!


Glanz und Geheimnis
Shine and Mystery: why you should visit this exhibition! By Sigrid van Roode
a gem of a blog
Jewellery Blog
Tips, how-to’s and surprising facts about jewellery that will light up your day – and that you don’t find anywhere else! The blog covers everything related to adornment and culture from North Africa and Southwest Asia, and you will also find info on related fields such as archeological jewellery and jewellery studies. Click on the image to the left for the latest post or follow the link below!
The online course library
Learn to read jewellery
Enjoying a jewellery journey during your coffee break? Yes please! The only online courses devoted entirely to personal adornment from North Africa and Southwest Asia are here – in a unique format that lets you immerse yourself in the world of jewellery, and still have time left for everything else. I created these courses with you in mind.
This is the how, what & why of your jewellery you have been looking for! Let me show you how to read jewellery and see the lives, dreams, fears and hopes of generations of women unfold themselves. You will never look at jewellery the same again. And you could be enjoying breathtaking jewellery views in just 10 minutes from now….!


About me
I am a jewellery historian and archaeologist. My story with personal adornment began over 25 years ago in Cairo. There, I came across traditional silver jewellery for the first time, and realized that like archaeology, these pieces are heritage. They are a historic source, and have so much to tell about the world they come from!
I work with museums and private collections to ensure this heritage has a long and meaningful future. I write books, curate exhibitions, give talks and in general love to share the stories of adornment. This website contains plenty of those: I wish you happy browsing!