ABOUT US

We are two sisters, Meyla Ruwin and Nevra Shapiro, jewelry designers & entrepreneurs who started Beksan Designs in 2011 together to build a family business. Meyla lives in San Francisco and Nevra is in Santa Monica, California. 

We were born in California and raised both in California and Istanbul, Turkey. Our mother was from Istanbul, Turkey and met our father at UCLA in California. We named the company after our Turkish grandfather whose surname was Beksan.

 We grew up visiting our grandmother in Istanbul.  During those visits, she often took us to the magnificent Topkapi Palace. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Topkapi served as the main residence of the Ottoman Empires’ Sultans and the jewels in their collections strongly inspired our love of jewelry and our jewelry designs. 

As sisters, we agreed we wanted to create a stylish, sustainably sourced, high quality and affordable jewelry and accessory business that reflected our American-Turkish heritage. Together we come up with fashionable designs that blend Ottoman style with modern flair, then work to create pieces ourselves & with local artisans to make them a reality.

We want to create jewelry that provides YOU with:

  • Jewelry collections which are laden with stories of rich history, female empowerment and symbolism. 
  • Sustainable metals primarily including 24kt gold or gold vermeil, sterling silver, zinc dipped in silver, and leather. 
  • Pieces that make women look and feel their best to create joy when they wear or receive our jewelry.
  • A community where we work together to give back to education, emergency disaster relief and health related organizations.  Together we are strong.

It is the realization of a dream for both of us: to create a company that combines our distinctive talents. Meyla, with her keen eye for fashion and experience in jewelry design is the creative force while Nevra brings her business expertise. Prior to starting Beksan Designs, Meyla was in education as both a teacher and administrator and Nevra had her own marketing business. 

Through Beskan Designs, join us for a journey on the cobbled streets of Istanbul's grand bazaar and California heritage, where you can discover many delightful treasures. Shop for exquisite, hand-crafted jewelry, luxurious cotton, silk, and pashmina scarves, and other fun unique accessories.