Nigora Tokhtabayeva (pictured) founded the brand Tabayer out of her many obsessions—sculpture, amulets, protective eyes—but its fine jewelry centers on the story of the goddess Inanna.
Tokhtabayeva describes Inanna as the first heroine and feminist in human history. She was an ancient Mesopotamian goddess of fertility and sensuality, and her protective symbol is Inanna’s knot, a hook-shaped bundle of reeds that is said to represent the entry to a storehouse (Inanna is also connected to agriculture).
“I have always been interested in the relationship between objects and the human condition. How can something inanimate have meaning in a specific environment?” Tokhtabayeva says. “I feel that jewelry has the power to make its wearer feel more confident, empowered, and protected.”
To honor Inanna—who some scholars also associate with war and courage—Tokhtabayeva established Tabayer in 2019 as a brand that appeals to independent women who want to wear jewelry with deeper meaning.
“Jewelry is not just an ornament for me. It holds stories, values, and a spiritual connection to the outside world,” Tokhtabayeva says. “Beyond jewelry being beautiful objects, each piece is meant to be infused into our everyday lives, injected with meaning and emotion. Like amulets, it has a universal meaning that traverses across different reigns and cultures.”
Before she moved into jewelry as a career, Tokhtabayeva had commissioned an amulet of a protective eye—one of her favorite symbols—to wear personally. Other people noticed and appreciated the design, some asking where they could buy one.
The eye symbol, along with Inanna’s knot, inspired Tabayer’s Oera motif, which is found throughout the brand’s collections. Tokhtabayeva says the work of sculptors Alexander Archipenko and Isamu Noguchi also influences her designs.
Tokhtabayeva’s earliest jewelry memory is a pair of ruby earrings her grandmother had inherited from her own grandmother and then passed down to her.
“My grandmother had an amazing jewelry collection, and each piece had a special story,” says Tokhtabayeva, a mother of five. “Recently I gave the pair of ruby earrings to my eldest daughter, and she wears them every day. Even though the earrings are small, they hold so much history and meaning to me and my family.”
Now based in Miami, Tokhtabayeva was born in Uzbekistan and moved as a teen to the United States, where her mother worked as a fashion designer and her father was an architect.
“Their eye for design and the arts definitely influenced me creatively,” Tokhtabayeva says. “My first work experience was at my family’s company. My father, who places high value on business, instilled in me the significance of being diligent and managing time efficiently.”
She attended Uzbekistan’s Tashkent Medical Institute and went on to work at tech companies, including some startups.
“I like how tech businesses approach product development in a creative way, yet still focusing on the commercial aspects of the overall business, finding solutions for the modern world. It’s something that I am still passionate about,” she says.
Desiring a career that served people, she eventually realized she could achieve this through business ownership. “Coming from a family of entrepreneurs and creatives, I was influenced in a positive way to start my own brand,” says Tokhtabayeva. “There are plenty of ways that one can be of value to a community, and it’s something I really emphasize in the building of my business.”
One of those ways is through Tabayer’s sustainability and charitable efforts: The jewelry is made with Fairmined gold by artisanal, family-owned manufacturers that belong to the Responsible Jewellery Council. Tokhtabayeva also supports social issue organizations, such as Every Mother Counts.
“At the core of Tabayer and its business model lies the understanding that nothing exists in isolation, and everything is interconnected,” she says.
(Photos courtesy of Tabayer)
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