Pippa's Travel Diaries: Afghanistan 2025

As the plane ducked down below the clouds and the sides of the high mountains that surround Kabul rose, almost within touching distance outside the window, I felt my heart soar. I feel very grateful to be able to return to this incredible country that has grown to mean so much to me.

The air was cold and the sun milky, heavy snow-filled clouds lay low in the sky. The familiar streets were busy with a mix of donkey carts, Taliban security jeeps, cars loaded with farm produce and boys sitting in the open boot with their feet dangling on the road; the bakeries with the essential Afghan bread in large sweet-smelling heaps, and boys busy cooking it on the walls of open fire pits. We drove past the market that lines the Kabul River, past towers of ruby red pomegranates and shiny tomatoes, sheep intestines and camel feet, and small forests of fresh herbs. There were noticeably fewer women on the streets.

My purpose for this trip was to visit the most recent group of women from Zindagi Now, a social enterprise set up by our partner in Kabul and me to support women in the art of jewellery-making, gem-cutting, and design. 

I was thrilled by the new courtyard, with its tables and benches that will look beautiful in the garden under the trees in the summer. Even in the mid-winter cold, the bare mulberry trees and some lingering pomegranates were still hanging on. The space is filled with hand-woven woollen carpets and handmade carved wooden furniture, the benches are flooded with natural light from the large windows. A beautiful space is very important when making. The energy of a space that is clean and cared for, where the scent of pine from the wooden tables, the warmth under foot from the carpets, are all conducive to a sense of entering a ‘sacred place’.

I was also in Kabul to design the new collection for next season using a faded rose-pink glass and hand-cut lapis lazuli. One day I went with Bilal to the gem bazaar in the centre of the city. A group of us squeezed into the tiny rooms of the gem dealers, huddled around old metal safes that were opened to reveal small folded white packets that held small flashing, dancing rubies from Jagdelak worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, or a cascade of forest-green emeralds brought to Kabul the day before by a Panjshir miner.

I have decided to also create something new and exciting with the team, something that to me speaks of true luxury. Our new project is one that feeds the soul of the maker, but also ensures a safe and sustainable livelihood, of sourcing beautiful natural materials from the high mountains of Panjshir and Badakhshan. In a sign of respect to the makers, we decided to create a collection in gold to truly show the beautiful and brilliant gems of Afghanistan. I chose sparkling green gems: emeralds and tourmalines, as they are the colours of nature, of renewal and new life, of creativity and fertility.